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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

"hap....-„- Copyright No.-X.j5. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Special Edition for 
1 Young- People's Meetings 5 ' 
Ocean Grove, 189 5 



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INTS 

on ^Ppapcp 

T{ZVival2 and 

T>Mz Stud]? 

Oiith Eleven " Inspirational Iieetures " 

Charles K. Halman 




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PRICE, 25 CENTS 






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Copyright, 1895 
By CHARLES H. YATMAN 



Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
Astor Place, New York 



PAGE 

A Prayer List 8 

Hold meetings to pray for 

the Holy Spirit n 

How to Pray 9 

Paul's Matchless Petition. 10 

Prayer Meetings 10 

Prayer Meetings in Dead- 
town. — No. i 12 

Prayer Meetings in Dead- 
town.— No. 2 13 

Prayer Meetings in Dead- 
town.— No. 3 14 

Prayer Meetings in Dead- 
town.— No. 4 15 

Psalm LI. as a Public 

Prayer n 

The Right Source 10 

Things to Remember about 

Prayer 6 

Victory in Prayer 5 

What Prayer should Con- 
sist of 7 

When to Pray n 

When you Pray in Public. 11 



REVIVALS, 

If- «f o 

AND SPECIAL SERVICES. 

A Covenant Service 40 

Active at Eighty-four 32 

A Good List 37 

A Letter 36 

A Nice Family 32 

A Night in Prison 32 

A Quick Revival 19 

A White Service 30 

Be Natural 26 

Bible Revivals 20 

The Repentance Revival. 

— Mark I 20 

The Ephesian Revival. — 

Acts XIX 20 

The Dry Bone Revival. 

— Ezek. XXXVII 21 

The Pentecost Revival. — 

Acts II 21 

The Damascus Road Re- 
vival.— Acts IX 21 

The Persecution Revival. 

—Acts XI 21 

The Iconium Revival. — 

Acts XIV 22 

The Philippian Revival. 

-Acts XVI 22 

The Roman Revival. — 

Acts XXVIII 23 

The Covenant Revival. 

—2 Chron. XV 23 

Called "Out." 26 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Can Men be Reached ? 33 

Change Character, change 

Conditions 33 

Consecration Covenant... 39 

Courage 29 

Covenant Card 38 

Don't Know It 28 

Evangelization Needed ... 34 

Faith that Saves 24 

Giving 28 

God's Hand-Book on Re- 
vivals 18 

Hit the Mark 28 

Holy Daring 32 

How to Backslide 36 

How to Help 27 

How to win Men 39 

Illustrate your Truth 27 

In the Ditch, or Out of It. 24 

Keep Clean 38 

Leadership 39 

More Nimrods Wanted ... 27 

Revivals 19 

Sacrifice 33 

Some Things to Hold on to. 31 

Speakers 31 

Tact 37 

Take Warning 26 

The "119." 29 

"There is a Time, we 

Know not When." 25 

To the Point 23 

Trust the People 28 

Try Some of These 39 

Virgin Soil 25 

Waiting 35 

Wanted 37 

Where to go 26 

Working Christians 34 



BIBLE STUDY. 

A Good Proof 45 

Bible Gleanings 46 

Dancing, Theatres, and 

Card Playing 42 

God's Supply 47 

Great Bible Facts — In 

Luke's Gospel 45 

Growing Richer 48 

Grumblers 49 

How Sweet they are 42 

Isaiah LIII 47 

Love for Bible Reading... 42 

Make Them do it 47 

Meet the Conditions 49 

Mighty Grace 48 

Notes on the Gospel of 

Luke 44 

Scripture for Women 43 

Take Time to be Holy. ... 50 



Contents. 



PAGE 

The Book of Philippians. . 46 
The Convert's Chapter. — 

Isaiah XII 45 

The Pale Horse and His 

Rider, Death 42 

The Power of Love 47 

The Seven Penitential 

Psalms 44 

The Wife's Chapter. - 

Proverbs XXXI 43 

To Secure Helpful Bible 

Reading 49 

Were all the Seas, etc 41 

What Jesus is to Me 48 

Work for Women of Years 43 



INSPIRATIONAL 
LECTURES. 

Inspirational Lectures.— 

No. 1 52 

Christian Work and 

Workers 52 

1st. The Work 52 

2d. The Worker 52 

3 d. The Lord of the Har- 
vest 52 

Inspirational Lectures.— 

No. 2 53 

The Kind of Christians 

Desired 53 

Need-Meeters 53 

Some Deal-Outs 54 



PAGE 

Inspirational Lectures. — 

No. 3 54 

Inspired Leaders 54 

Inspirational Lectures. — 

No. 4 55 

Manner— "Life. 1 ' 55 

Inspirational Lectures.— 

No. 5 56 

Manner— " Death." 56 

Inspirational Lectures. — 

No. 6 57 

How to make Good 
Speakers from Poor 

Ones 57 

Inspirational Lectures. — 

No. 7 58 

The Book of Acts 58 

Inspirational Lectures. — 

No. 8 59 

Suggestions for Work- 
ers 59 

Inspirational Lectures. — 

No. 9 60 

Preparation 60 

Inspirational Lectures. — 

No. 10 61 

Self-Reliance 61 

Inspirational Lectures.— 

No. 11 63 

Constancy 63 

Illustrations for Lecture.— 

No. 11 63 

What Became of the Apos- 
tles , 64 



It 



PRAY WITHOUT CEASING" 



Prayer 



^ VICTORY IN PRAYER "^ 

1 Unanswered yet ?" Faith cannot be unanswered. 

Her feet were firmly planted on the rock ; 

Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted, 

Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock. 

She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer, 

And cries: " It shall be done — sometime — somewhere." 



THINGS TO REMEMBER 
ABOUT PRAYER. 

Remember " Delay is not denial." 

Remember Faith is essential for fulfillment. 

Remember Secret prayer is the secret of power.. 

Remember You may ask for gold as well as grace. 

Remember They pray best who love most. 

Remember You may pray for every good thing. 

Remember Not to limit the Holy One of Israel. 

Remember Always to add "Thy will, not mine, be 
done." 

Remember Luke xviii is the prevailing prayer 
chapter. 

Remember The secret of answer is found in John 
xv, 7. 

Remember Prayer may enter every domain of need. 

Remember John xvii is the great prayer of Jesus. 

Remember They need unction who pray in public. 

Remember Long prayers are not always the most 
powerful ones. 

Remember Numbers do not always make the best 
prayer-meeting. 

Remember To begin or end no day without prayer. 

Remember To have stated seasons of prayer. 

Remember To have a private closet of prayer. 

Remember Neglect of prayer is spiritual suicide. 

Remem ber God's willingness and power go together. 

Remember To always couple prayer with thanks- 
giving or praise. 



What prayer should consist of 



p 

TvEVER 

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ETITION. 

ENCE 
DORATION. 
EARNING. 
NTREATY. 



EQUEST 



Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 



A PRAYER LIST. 



Pray for the Aged. 
Pray for Assurance. 
Pray for those in Authority. 
Pray for Awakened Sinners. 
Pray for Backsliders. 
Pray for the Bible Cause. 
Pray for the Blind and Deaf. 
Pray for Boldness. 
Pray for Charity. 
Pray for Cheerfulness. 
Pray for the Children. 
Pray for the Church. 
Pray for Comfort. 
Pray for Consistency. 
Pray for Constancy. 
Pray for Contentment. 
Pray for Converts. 
Pray for our Country, 
Pray for Courage. 
Pray for Daily Bread. 
Pray for the Desolate. 
Pray for the Disappointed. 
Pray for the Dying. 
Pray for Earnestness. 
Pray for your Enemy. 
Pray for Evangelists. 
Pray for Faith. 
Pray for the Fatherless. 
Pray for Food and Clothing. 
Pray for Forgiveness. 
Pray for Freedom. 
Pray for your Friends. 
Pray for Gentleness. 
Pray for Godliness. 
Pray for God's Kingdom to 

Come. 
Pray for God's Will to be 

Done. 
Pray for Gold. 
Pray for Good Success. 
Pray for Grace. 
Pray for Guidance. 
Pray for Health. 
Pray for the Heathen. 
Pray for Help. 
Pray for the Holy Spirit. 
Pray for Hope. 
Pray for Humility. 
Pray for Instruction. 
Pray for the Intemperate. 
Pray for the Israelites. 
Pray for Joy. 
Pray for Kindness. 
Pray for Knowledge. 
Pray for Laborers. 
Pray for Law Makers. 



Pray for Liberality. 

Pray for Light. 

Pray for Love. 

Pray for Manliness. 

Pray for Mercy and Compas- 
sion. 

Pray for Missionaries. 

Pray for Morality. 

Pray for the Mourner. 

Pray for our Native Land. 

Pray for Obedience. 

Pray for the Oppressed. 

Pray for Orphans. 

Pray for Parents. 

Pray for Patience. 

Pray for Peace. 

Pray for People in Peril. 

Pray for the Persecuted. 

Pray for Perseverance. 

Pray for Physicians. 

Pray for the Poor. 

Pray for Power. 

Pray how to Pray. 

Pray for Preachers. 

Pray for Preparation. 

Pray for the President. 

Pray for Prisoners. 

Pray for Protection. 

Pray for Purity. 

Pray for Quietness. 

Pray for Relief. 

Pray for Resignation. 

Pray for Revivals. 

Pray for Righteousness. 

Pray for Rulers. 

Pray for Safe Journeys. 

Pray for Safety. 

Pray for Salvation. 

Pray for Schools and Col- 
leges. 

Pray for Sinners. 

Pray for the Sorrowful. 

Pray for the Spirit of Power. 

Pray for the Starving. 

Pray for the Suffering. 

Pray for Teachers. 

Pray for Temperance. 

Pray for Truth. 

Pray for the Unhappy. 

Pray for Unity. 

Pray for Usefulness. 

Pray for Virtue. 

Pray for Widows. 

Pray for Wisdom. 

Pray for Work. 



and Bible Study. 



HOW TO PRAY. 

PRAYER ; oh ! what a power it is, and yet thousands of 
Christians don't know how to pray. I want to write in 
a very homely way on the subject. You will find in the 
twelfth chapter of Luke that the disciples were anxious to 
have Jesus teach them how to pray. They had been listening 
to him as he plead with the Father, and now they want in- 
struction, which they knew he could give, for John the Bap- 
tist had also taught his disciples. It is never recorded in the 
Gospels that Christ prayed, but, immediately following it, 
there was some mighty work done by him. If you ever do 
any great thing for God, it will be after prayer, much prayer. 
The prayers of John Knox shook Scotland and the queen on 
the throne. Luther talked with God till his soul found 
strength that shook the Pope from head to toe. Now you can 
pray as Knox or Luther did if you try. Go through the Bible 
and study what has been done there. Take Jacob first. There 
is now, and has been, a great hue and cry against him. There 
is no doubt about his character, it was bad, but we find him 
in prayer. That thirty-second chapter of Genesis is one of 
the mightiest in the Book. God blessed him as he prayed. 
Take the prayer of Daniel. In the second chapter of his 
prophecy you will find that four men held a prayer-meeting, 
only four, but the result saved all the wise men of that great 
city. It don't take one hundred to hold a good prayer-meet- 
ing. Get four of you together, and you will have a mighty 
time. Don't ask God for things you don't need, and don't 
ask for anything for which you have no faith. It is impossi- 
ble to please God without faith. " He that cometh to God 
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarderof them that 
diligently seek him." 

I get very impatient over long prayers in prayer-meetings. 
One man covers everything that is wanted and a good deal 
more, and when the next man prays, why, it is only a repeti- 
tion of the same desires, and the people don't like it. Another 
thing, away with those old prayers that every one knows by 
heart. There are certain men who every week will offer up 
the same prayer in service. How refreshing it would be to 
hear one of these get up and pray, " God be merciful to me a 
sinner," then sit down. There would be many a Methodist 
" Amen " in that meeting, I feel sure, at least in the heart. 
Leaders ought to tell those who pray too long, to quit. Good 
meetings have been killed by long prayers. 

Without prayer there will be no power to win souls. Write 
the names of unconverted ones down in your Bible and pray 
them into the kingdom of God. I am saved to-day because 
of my mother's faith and prayers. Take the Syrophenician 
woman's daughter who walks the streets of gold, and she is 
there because of her mother's prayers. Pray for your chil- 
dren with them kneeling by your side. Learn to hear your 
own voice in prayer. The first thing when you wake up in 
the morning, talk with God. Speak with him before you talk 
with any one else. And so the last thing at night. 

John 15: 7 is a great prayer verse, and all ought to study the 
seventeenth chapter of the same book. I find it a good thing 
to often make a list of my needs, then find a promise that fits, 
like Philippians 4 : 19, then go to God in prayer, and the an- 
swer comes. You have as much right to ask for gold as grace. 
No one can read the words of Christ and not believe that. In 
the past eight years I have raised by prayer and proving the 
promises found in Psalm 81: 10, Haggai 2:8, and Psalm 37:4 
and 5, nearly five hundred thousand dollars. Again, let me 
call your attention to the twenty- sixth verse of the Victory 
Chapter of the Bible— the eighth of Romans. There is the 
secret of prevailing prayer. Ask God for both big and little 
things. Keep in the spirit of prayer. Get so in earnest that 
distractions will not crowd in on you. Thank God for what 
you get. In dealing with inquirers get them to pray. Begin 
no task without prayer. Have stated seasons for prayer. It 



IO Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

is good to have a closet for prayer. Don't approach God ir- 
reverently. There will be times when the Spirit calls you to 
pray ; do it. Don't confine your petitions to yourself, but ask 
God for his kingdom to cover the whole earth. 



THE RIGHT SOURCE. 

THOUSANDS go to others for help. Why not go to God ? 
It was He who said, " Fear not, I will help thee," and 
behind the promise was the strength of Omnipotence. 

You will find written on the opening fly-leaf of my Bible 
these words : 

" Be careful for nothing." 

" Be prayerful for everything." 

" Be thankful for anything." 

Little favors of God often outweigh the biggest gift of the 
world. Satan knew this when he offered Christ the whole 
world for one bow. 



PRAYER-MEETINGS. 

THE regular mid-week prayer-meeting could be made a 
mighty power and filled to overflowing if the following 
simple rules and suggestions were carried out : 

i. Let some one call together in his home twenty-five peo- 
ple of the parish, who have gifts enough to take part to edifi- 
cation. 

2. Give them a happy social hour with a nice luncheon j 
never mind if it does cost time, trouble, and money. 

3. After lunch, tell them what you want and pledge them 
to it as follows : 

Be present, rain or shine. 

Come early, with cheering faces. 

See that everybody has a book to sing from. 

Have the room well lighted. 

Keep the temperature at sixty-five degrees. 

Get the people together, and front seats full. 

Rule out long preludes, and interludes, and afterludes, on 
organ or piano. 

The twenty-five should sing in strong, clear tones and with 
good time. 

Every one be ready to offer a short, very short, pointed 
prayer. 

Let the twenty-five demand reverence, mingled with joy, 
by their every act. 

Have ready some good Scripture, testimony, or song. 

Permit no one to be lengthy, not even the preacher. 

Never follow the same order ; vary the services. 

See that sinners are urged to accept Christ. 

Close the meeting promptly. 

The twenty-five then speak to everybody in the room. 

Ask them to bring some one else next week. 



PAUL'S MATCHLESS PETITION. 

T\jO recorded Prayer in Scripture, outside those made by the 
1 V Lord Jesus, quite equals the one by Paul in his Epistle 
to the Ephesians, chapter Hi., which is the "Bottomless Chap- 
ter " of the Bible. Beginning with verse 12, he says : 

12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence 
by the faith of him. 

13. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations 
for you, which is your glory. 

14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, 

15. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is 
named, 

16. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his 



and Bible Study. II 

glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner 
man ; 

17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, 
being rooted and grounded in love, 

t8. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the 
breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 

19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowl- 
edge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 

20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly 
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that 
worketh in us. 

WHEN YOU PRAY IN PUBLIC. 

LET your voice in its tone be helpful. 
Whether you stand or kneel, speak so all can hear. 

Let your petitions be suited to the occasion and to the 
people. 

Be very reverential in your approach unto God. 

Trust inwardly for the help of the Holy Ghost, that you may 
have unction. 

Brevity, with great faith, will add power. 

Mingle adoration, thanksgiving, and praise with the peti- 
tions. 

If there is disorder or noise in the room, wait until it ceases 
before you begin. 

Often have the people follow you in posture, when you 
pray ; all kneeling, or all standing, or all bowing their 
heads. 

The length of your prayer should depend largely upon the 
facts as to whether others are to follow, or yours is to be the 
only audible petition. 

The use of Scripture, both in promise and petition, is most 
helpful. 

Use not vain repetitions, and cease when you are through. 



PSALM LI. AS A PUBLIC PRAYER. 

LET the leader of a meeting, instead of offering extempore 
prayer, ask all heads to be bowed ; then let him read as 
a prayer Psalm LI., the " Prodigal's Psalm, 1 ' changing to the 
plural, so as to make it fit the needs of the company rather 
than of the leader. 



HOLD MEETINCS TO PRAY FOR THE HOLY 
SPIRIT. 

THERE are no meetings that can be held quite so profit- 
able to the Christian as those where the company gather 
for the one desire that God will pour out His Holy Spirit. 

If you sing at all (and it's best often, in such a meeting, not 
to sing), let it be hymns on the Holy Spirit. Before prayer, 
let such Scripture as the right portions of Joel ii., Acts ii.. and 
John xvi., with Luke xxiv. 49, and Zechariah iv. 6, be read ; 
then all kneeling call upon God for the induement of power 
from on high. Pray to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Pray 
that Paul's matchless petition in Ephesians iii. may be made 
true then and there. Let every one make an audible prayer. 
This waiting upon God will yield such harvests from heaven 
as will give power to the faint, strength to the weak, comfort 
to the afflicted, success to the reaper, and glory to God. 



WHEN TO PRAY. 

/1L WA YS when you arise in the morning. 
^l Always when you retire at night. 

Kneel by the bedside and briefly thank God for His mercies, 
and ask that He continue them, for Jesus' sake. 



12 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

It is good, at the evening- prayer, to present your friends 
and loved ones by name. 

The blessing of God should be asked, and thanks returned, 
at meal times. 

Always bow your head and pray when you enter the house 
of God to worship. 

When leaving home on a journey, pray. When tempted not 
to pray, then be the more sure to do so. 



PRAYER-MEETINGS IN DEADTOWN.-No. I. 

THE regular weekly prayer-meeting in the First Church of 
Deadtown was altogether a dry affair. li Stale pudding 
and dried beef," the young boys would say on the corner 
after the services, when they met to get a whiff of fresh air 
and iron out the sanctimonious wrinkles from their faces. 
The church has a membership of four hundred and sixty- 
three. The usual attendance on Wednesday nights was about 
sixty. If rainy, from sixteen to twenty would turn out, '"to 
support the Dominie, 11 as they said. It was hard to tell just 
where the fault lay. Some said the minister was to blame, 
others declared it was the people. 

One day they had a funeral. This was nothing new to 
Deadtown, but it was new to the First Church folks. Their 
pastor was very properly laid away to rest. There were tears 
and flowers and comments and other things peculiar to Dead- 
town society. Then came the question of a new clergyman. 
At last he came. Tall— over six feet ; black eyes, brown hair, 
big ears and feet, angular, good. 

The third Wednesday night Mr. Lightheart (that was the 
minister's name) said : " My friends, I am informed by certain 
parties that your city takes its name from the condition of 
spiritual affairs here. I believe they are right, but things 
must change. I have a notion that the first two letters of 
Deadtown could find better substitutes for themselves, and 
will, if we do our part. Elder Brown sitting there tells me 
there are seven bad things about these social meetings : 

" Bad management, bad air, bad light, bad people, bad 
prayers, bad singing, bad results. 

" We are going to have another funeral, to bury either these 
seven stinking corpses, the church, or me. I am not sure 
which it will be. 

" Mr. Smith, if you please, open the window there by you. 

" Mr. Sexton, kindly light every gas-jet in the room. 

" While we rise and sing four verses of 282, will those young 
men favor me by moving the last five rows of chairs to the 
closet yonder? Those now occupying them will find others 
here in front. Now, let us all rise and sing. 1 ' 

Some people went home, some went up front, one woman 
developed a consumptive cough in three minutes from the 
fresh air. The wife of the president of the gas company took 
the front chair in the centre aisle. They sang the first verse 
of the hymn three times to get the right tune, and then sang 
the rest with melody and joy. Mr. Long was asked to pray 
briefly. He was directly at the preacher's side. He usually 
covered every want, sometimes from Adam down, sometimes 
from Abraham down, sometimes from Christ down to the 
coming century. He had just got nicely started when his 
coat was pulled and a voice whispered, " Say Amen, 1 ' and he 
said it. 

Mr. Wrong came to speak, as was his custom, but before 
he could get the words out the preacher was ahead of him. 
"There are certain matters in our city, well known to all 
citizens, that savor of anything but honesty and truth. Till 
these things are straightened out. I want that no one con- 
nected in any way with them shall either speak or pray in 
these meetings. Let us sing, * A charge to keep I have. 1 " 
They made the room ring. 

" It is our intention, 11 said the minister, "to have a point 
and purpose to these Wednesday night meetings, which, if 
rightly managed, have in them a greater element of drawing 



and Bible Study. 13 

power than the Sabbath preaching- services. I expect to see 
the church too small to hold all who desire to come to these 
gatherings, and I now announce that next week we will have 
a purpose meeting, the week after a praise service, then a 
promise meeting, then a zeal service, followed by a testimony- 
meeting, an old folks 1 service, a children's gathering, a sow- 
ers 1 service, and then a reapers' meeting. After these nine 
are held I will announce further. Let us have a moment's 
silent prayer before the benediction." 

As the members passed out each one was presented with a 
little card, on which was neatly printed a description and 
subject of "the Purpose Meeting." Evidently this was the 
seed-sowing for next week's harvest, by one who purposed 
saving Deadtown from any further spiritual disgrace. 

We will come with them next week and see what happens. 



PRAYER-MEETINCS IN DEADTOWN.-No. 2. 

THE lecture -room of Deadtown's First Church never looked 
so clean as on the night when they held their wonderful 
" Purpose Meeting. 11 Evidently the " big " minister, as they 
now began to call him, had no sympathy with dirt in any 
form, for soap, brushes, broom, and duster had brightened 
things up till they shone, as one woman said, like a new pin. 
The big high desk had disappeared ; where it had gone not 
even the sexton knew, though the parsonage girl told Mrs. 
Hayes cook that the minister had taken to wood-chopping for 
exercise early Thursday morning. 

By actual count there were out to prayer-meeting one hun- 
dred and thirty-seven, counting babies, boys, and all. One 
hundred and twenty-five chairs were in the room, well ar- 
ranged ; when the service opened fifteen more were added. 

Everybody wondered how the Purpose Meeting would go. 
Well, it went. I must tell you about it. To begin with, Sally 
Brown played the piano — that was new. After the opening 
hymn, when everybody expected the long prayers. Will Smith, 
with three of his companions from the Choral Union, gath- 
ered about the piano and sang a solo and chorus — " Dare to 
be a Daniel." Then we all read aloud together the Converts 1 
Chapter of the Bible. Each chair had a Bible. The preacher 
asked us so naturally and nicely to all read, that, before I 
knew it, I read with the rest. The next thing startled the 
whole company. 

He asked Faithful Williams to lead in prayer. She to pray ! 
The modest, quiet, best little woman in the whole parish ! 
Well, she did. I asked her this morning how it came about. 
She said : "The minister asked me on Sabbath what 'pur- 
poses ' I had made, and I told him it was to be ' willing and 
obedient,' from Isaiah i. 19. Upon the strength of that, I 
suppose with some future intentions, he said : w You ought 
always to pray and not to faint,' and I said : ' Yes, of course,' 
so I had to do it." After her prayer there was another sur- 
prise. Elder Crane, who had trouble with the widow Sayles 
in some property matters, deliberately got up and said he be- 
lieved he had done a great injustice to one of the flock, who 
should have received sympathy instead of sourness at his 
hands, and wanted then and there to ask forgiveness from all 
concerned. Mrs. Sayles sobbed aloud, and, of course, many 
cried for joy with her. 

A ten-minute song service followed. My, such singing ! 
The Choral Union men gave the right pitch and time, and 
God blessed the music to many hard hearts. 

Mr. Lightheart rose, and with so much power and plainness 
told of Daniel's purpose not to drink wine, of Paul's purpose 
to preach the Gospel, of the Prodigal's purpose to return 
home, of God's purpose to save all who would believe, and 
then modestly named the purposes of his own heart— oh, they 
were so good ! — bearing largely on a shepherd's purpose to 
feed and care for his flock. Then came the open meeting. 
There was but a moment's pause, when Will Smith said he 
purposed hereafter to use his voice for Jesus, and, sitting 



14 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

down at the piano, he sang 1 " Building for Eternity.'" That 
purpose must have been born of God For a double reason. If 
Will Smith could do that, everybody could do something, and 
they did. More than thirty spoke. One purposed to take 
part in the meetings ; another to live nearer the Cross ; a little 
boy said he was going to read his Bible ; Mrs. Johnson, who 
had never united with the church, said she was going to, at 
the next communion ; then a young lady purposed to teach in 
the Sunday-school ; to this purpose the pastor got six others 
to join ; it made them laugh when Mr. Long said he purposed 
last week never to make long public prayers, when Mr. 
Hunt arose and said he purposed giving up swearing, and 
asked them to pray for him, there was a thrill over the house. 
Mr. Lightheart said: " Maybe there are some who will pur- 
pose to repent of sin and turn to God this night ; if there are 
such, will they rise and say ' I will ' ? " There were five ; one 
an elder's son, two sisters, an old man, and a boy. It was 
nine o'clock, and the meeting closed. The pastor announced 
there would be two hundred chairs in the room a week hence, 
hoping they would be full. Again, as they passed out, the 
little printed card was handed each person, announcing the 
Praise Service and what it would be. 



PRAYER-MEETINGS IN DEADTOWN.-No. 3. 

GRACIOUS me, the chairs are all taken ! " said Mrs. Sims, 
as she entered the lecture- room of Deadtown Church on 
the night of the Praise Meeting ; and she was ten minutes 
ahead of time. 

The sexton found it necessary to bring out every chair he 
had, two hundred and sixty-four, with four stools additional. 
It looked queer to see Elder Bond sitting on one of those back- 
less things, way in the rear of the room, but that was all there 
was left for him, as he came late. 

When Mr. Lightheart, the minister, came in, there was a 
perceptible look of expectancy on every countenance. His 
face shone, there was a glad look in his eyes : he had been 
alone with God. As he spoke his voice trembled, the words 
came burning hot from his lips. You could see he was more 
than full. The one hundredth Psalm gave expression to the 
feelings of his soul. The whole company was set ablaze, and 
the sons of Scotland never sang that Psalm with more ex- 
pression than did they. 

Together they repeated the Lord's Prayer, standing. As 
they took their seats, the minister's little daughter, led by her 
mother to the piano, began to sing, " Can Jesus save a little 
child like me?" and when the chorus came they both sang, 
" Oh yes, yes, yes, He loves me tenderly : He died to save a 
little child like me." both voices were perfect in sweetness. 

We all felt the presence of Him who loved the children. We 
became like little children. A stranger asked her to sing the 
last verse once more. She did. I supposed prayer would 
then be offered, but 'twas not so. Mr. Lightheart stepped 
down to a chair where sat a little ragamuffin with no shoes, 
pants out at the knees, face only clean. " Deadtown," said 
he, as he brought the little child out where all could see, kl has 
hundreds of these who know nothing but want and all of sin. 
It maybe that cause for praise will rise quickly in your minds. 
Let us give our thanks a golden ring. Search your purses for 
good-sized pieces, as this little fellow, a half orphan, has seven 
others like him in the home where his mother barely keeps 
the wolves of want from the door. If she gets the means to 
clothe them decently, they will all be sent to day and Sabbath 
school." 

Gold and silver and bills and pennies were tied in a handker- 
chief, and Faithful Williams, with boy and money, was dis- 
patched to his house. 

One thing I liked : there was no counting of how much there 
was. All there was in the alabaster box of ointment broke 
over the head of " one of the least of these." 

As the two went out the door, some one over by the window 



and Bible Study, 15 

began to sing, " Cast thy bread upon the waters." All joined, 
and there were many eyes filled with tears. 

"A praise service should have something- more than lip 
power, 1 ' said Mr. Lightheart, as he thanked them for their 
offerings to the poor. " Now let us offer our prayers of thanks- 
giving for mercies to us. Brother George, let your prayer be 
for spiritual blessings ; Mr. Littell, yours for temporal gifts ; 
Mrs. Gibson, you follow with praise for the gift of Christ and 
his Gospel ; then let there be a moment's silent prayer of praise 
for special providences.'" 

There was a goodly number of the Choral Union present, 
and they sang, so all could hear, the words of a most beautiful 
anthem, Will Smith leading. 

" Now,'' said the pastor, u we will hear the praises ; but first 
let those speak who are not here. I have a message from 
Sister Noble, who has not left her room for thirteen years. 
She says : 4 Tell them I am so glad to be shut in with God 
where pain is easy to bear. 

" ' Shut in with a trio of angels sweet, 

With Patience and Grace all pain to meet ; 
With Faith that can suffer and stand and wait 
And lean on the promises strong and great. * 

" Then I have a letter from Brother Task, who was called 
to the city. He says : l Praise God for grace to give thirty- 
six inches to the yard, sixteen ounces to the pound, and not 
lie about calico washing.' He little thought I would read it 
here. 

" A mother, whose babe keeps her at home, told me to say 
she was glad God could make a tired and weary woman 
patient and full of peace. 

"Now let us all sing the doxology, then speak." There 
were forty-two who spoke. Even Mr. Clarkson, the mill 
owner, testified of the greatness of God, as well as Judge 
Gardner. Who would have dreamed it ? 

There were praises for salvation, for comforts and health. 
A ripple went over the audience as John Taylor said he praised 
God for unexpected blessings— the doctor (eft a pair of twins 
at his house a fortnight ago. One fellow praised God for a 
wide-awake minister, which made the big ears of Mr. Light- 
heart show more than ever— he is such a modest man. It 
seems that out of the Purpose Meeting there came three con- 
verts, all of whom testified their praise to God for that meet- 
ing. It was a noticeable thing how the minister, in such a 
nice, easy way, got those to speak who never before took any 
part. He made it natural for them to do it. 

Mrs. Tudor spoke last. She had just buried her babe, and 
amidst tears she thanked God that her first-born was safe with 
Jesus. The official brethren were asked to remain to see 
about buying more chairs. The " Promise Meeting " was an- 
nounced for next week. Then, with silent prayer, the minis- 
ter dismissed the service. 

People lingered, loath to leave the hallowed spot. All at 
once there was a sobbing voice heard over by the door. 
Faithful Williams, who had returned, was talking to a young 
lady whose heart had broken under the influence of the ser- 
vice, and grief for her sins. The minister came down, asked 
them all to be quiet, and they would have prayer. Before he 
prayed he asked if there were others who would like to give 
up sin and serve God. 

Two young men said yes. Then he plead with God. All 
three were converted. 



PRAYER-MEETINGS IN DEADTOWN.-No. 4. 

SINCE we last wrote, Deadtown has been shaken to its moral 
centre. The new building of the Young Men's Christian 
Association has been dedicated, and the stream of young men 
who go in and out reminds one of the ebb and flow of tides. 
The Christian young men, full of grace and truth, which 



16 Hints on Prayer, ■ Revivals, and Bible Study. 

fives them a charm because of their hopeful, happy natures, 
ave given the swing of success to the organization, and it's 
"the thing" to go there. So say the boys, and they know. 
As a result of this, many of the young men who never before 
went to church have turned their faces that way. Mr. Light- 
heart, pastor of the First Church, came in to one of the Gos- 
pel meetings and gave a talk. Well, everybody laughed and 
everybody cried ; it was as wholesome as milk for babes. He 
said he wanted to grip every young man's hand, and he did. 
There was more Gospel in the grasp of his hand than in all the 
scientific essays ever delivered from the pulpits of America. 
No wonder that his prayer-meetings had to adjourn from the 
lecture-room to the main audience-room, and then many of 
the official men had to sit in and around the pulpit. 

The night of which we write saw fully eight hundred 
crowded into the church ; two-thirds were young men and 
women under thirty. The singing was such as to touch the 
heart of a pagan. The Spirit of God took the music and mel- 
ody, and convinced many of their need of heaven, where they 
sing forever. Hell has no music ; Heaven has it all. There 
were no long prayers ; the day for them had passed. There 
were no long faces ; even the wrinkles on the brow of weary 
pilgrims seemed to be ironed out by the permeating joy and 
peace. Scripture, abundance of it, but given in such a way as 
to make one relish every verse and want more. Men back by 
the door rose and spoke with as much freedom as those near 
the leader. A homelike feeling got hold of everybody, and re- 
minded one of a scene in a large farm-house where, on a cold 
winter's night, they all gather around the big open fire. 

Mr. Lightheart took the last twenty minutes to tell of Christ 
and heaven for the saved, Satan and hell for the lost. Such 
plain preaching ; such grand things for the good ; such awful 
things for the wicked. When he closed, there was a hush like 
that which often precedes a tempest. Then the storm broke. 
It was a hurricane of repentance. Men and women, and even 
children, wept tears of sorrow for their coldness and their sin. 
Nearly one hundred that night rose and asked that they might 
be saved. Old men said it was like the revivals of 1837 and 
1857. Mr. Lightheart and his faithful workers were calm and 
earnest. One by one the seekers were led to the Cross, where 
their load of sin rolled off into a bottomless sepulchre. The 
hour was late when a circle was formed in the lecture-room 
by a few who remained to kneel in prayer to thank God for 
his great salvation. As they passed out I heard one of the 
town officials, a godly man, say to Mr. Lightheart : " I think, 
pastor, we had better change the name of our city to Glad- 
town." 

There are a thousand cities where a Mr. Lightheart is 
needed, and where God is ready to do what has already been 
done in Deadtown. Reader, are you not chosen to lead ? I 
think so. Move forward, quickly. 



"REVIVE THY WORK, OH! LORD" 



"THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH" 



AND THE WAGES HAVE NEVER BEEN CUT DOWN. 



Revivals 

And Special Services. 



RESCUE THE PERISHING" 



Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 



COD'S HAND-BOOK ON REVIVALS. 

I AM often asked : " What is the best hand-book on Re- 
vivals? " 

There is but one answer to that question — " The Book of 
Acts ; that's God's encyclopaedia on soul-winning. 1 ' 

There are thousands of pastors, tens of thousands of teach- 
ers, and hundreds of thousands of people in the pew, who 
want a big revival. 

The pessimism in me has been all shaken out by the multi- 
tude of glorious workers I've found in the church, who, while 
maybe a little cold on the exterior, have the hot fires of holy 
zeal burning within. These want a revival of no mean kind, 
one that is born of God, one that has less of man and method 
in it, and more of the Holy Ghost. 

Now, the question is : Can such a season of soul-winning 
be had ? and, if so, how ? 

How? 

I'm not sure but that the best thing is to answer : ^How not 
to have it?'' I'll give seven hints on that side : 

i. By trusting in man and man-made methods. 

2. By expecting the planting of sea-shore pebbles to produce 
wheat-field harvests, or human words and wisdom to yield 
new births. 

3. By continuance of the old barren ways and means. 

4. By unwillingness to follow the leadings of the Spirit. 

5. By disregard of God's revelation to us through the his- 
tory of past revivals. 

6. By social and secular features displacing spiritual power. 

7. By sinful neglect of holy means. 

All or any of these will bring a church to the dryness of 
the bones in Ezekiel's vision. 

Lots of them there now ! But let us get to the other side, 
quick. 

How can we have a good, big, and lasting revival ? 

I answer : Meet the conditions God has named ; easily found 
in the two great Revival Chapters of the Bible— Joel ii. and 
Acts ii. 

I venture to say, if you will begin at the twelfth verse of the 
first named chapter, and go on to the end, then get the swing 
of conquest in the Pentecost chapter, there is no power on 
earth or hell that can keep back the flood-tide of salvation 
that will set in. Stick to these two chapters ; don't go rambling 
all over Pentateuch, Psalms, Prophets and Pauline epistles. 

It's a fact that whenever and wherever revival seed is 
sown from these bins of God's truth, there comes a mighty 
harvest of souls. 

Try it ; try it. Don't question it, or quarrel over it, but try 
it. 

Remember the chapters— Joel ii. and Acts ii. 

It's no use reading them first before people, or to people, 
or with people. Get alone, and read with only God and the 
angels by. 

Let the preacher go to the church some week-day morning, 
when sexton as well as people are away ; take a pew midway 
from door to pulpit; don't think of reading for full ten min- 
utes ; look around ; ask what all you see means, and then out 
of the absolute silence, let God speak. 

Glance up to where, as the preacher, you usually stand, 
and then over the pews, speak aloud two words : " God and 
Eternity," and listen. The very stones will speak, as though 
they were children raised up unto Abraham. Follow this by 
prayer, real prayer, for the Holy Spirit's presence in power ; 
then^ read the chapters, read and think. 

Dinner may pass, supper may come and go, with your 
place vacant, but you will have bread they know not of. The 
promise in Psalm xx., verse 2, will be fulfilled to you, and to 
your people you will go, leading them as you have been led 
in these Scriptures, and the vision of Isaiah xxxv. will as surely 
be true to the flock of your care, as that Christianity followed 
Calvary. 



and Bible Study. ig 



REVIVALS. 

IT may not be amiss to give some of my notions about re- 
vivals, gathered from books, men, meetings, and experi- 
ence both sad and glad. 

Revivals are good things if God is in them ; otherwise not. 

From all I can see and learn, there are a good many where 
He has little to do. 

This is not because He does not want a place therein, but is 
given no chance. His position is that of the speaker where 
the preceding talkers have either taken all the time, or tired 
out the audience. 

There are many, very many meetings where there is so much 
of man and method that literally God has no chance at the sin- 
ner. So much manipulation: Now stand up, now sit down, now 
bow your heads, now lift them, please stand up again, Chris- 
tians take their seats, sinners stand alone, all rise once more ; 
come forward, bow again \ and this repeated till I sympathize 
with the sinner who reported the service as a " bobbing up and 
bobbing down affair." 

It's just as wicked for a Christian to get between God and 
the sinner as it is for the devil. 

The sin of the church in revival work to-day is that of trust- 
ing in man instead of God. Here, if nowhere else, is it true : 
" Cursed be the man who trusteth in man, and maketh flesh 
his arm. 1 ' These words are in Jeremiah xvii. 5. Over and over 
again have I had in my own work this abominable thing hap- 
pen. People looking to me and my work, or to the singer and 
the song, or to the crowd, for success. They have brought, 
not only to me, but to themselves, failure. It will ever be so. 
Trusting in any means, methods, or men, for true revival 
work, will bring no permanent and abiding success. It must 
be ever and always a looking unto God. 

Good revivals follow the prayers of earnest Christians, and 
the forcible presentation of the doctrines of sin, repentance, 
and redemption. 

No great work is done in any church or city where they 
make little of the blood of Christ, the awfulness of sin, and 
the Holy Spirit. 

Evangelists are good things in their right places, but their 
place is not to help lazy pastors or lazy people ; and yet, I guess 
it is. Maybe they are most needed there. 

Presenting a lot of funny notions and acting queerly, turn- 
ing a service into a show, either of mental or physical gym- 
nastics, is not supported by Scripture, sense, or rules of suc- 
cess. 

I doubt if anywhere, no matter how hard the field or how 
peculiar the place or people, but what you can have a glorious 
revival, and one that will last, by the simple rule of waiting on 
God till Christians are under conviction for the lost. Then 
preaching from pulpit, from press, from pew, at home, in 
business — everywhere, the doctrine of sin, in its completeness, 
meaning, its extent, its guilt, its result now and final, and then 
holding up Jesus as the only Saviour. Souls will surely be 
saved. 

The reason more rich and learned men are not reached with 
the Gospel nowadays is that the truth is not applied in the 
right way. 

Any one who will despise, or look down upon, or talk 
against, children giving themselves to Christ, is not fit to be 
in the church. They are worse than heathen, and need con- 
verting just as much. 



A QUICK REVIVAL. 

I WRITE now of a revival that can be had in short order, 
that will be lasting and large, that will glorify God and 
benefit man, that will get the smile of men and hatred of dev- 
ils, that will satisfy the doubly conservative, and make glori- 



20 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

ously happy the liberal and all-round man. No need to beg 
of heaven a long while for help. God is ready. 

It is a revival of yourself, meaning in full — 

More prayer. 

More Bible reading. 

Having family prayer, with grace at meals. 

Paying your debts. 

Your presence at prayer meeting. 

Forgiving and asking forgiveness. 

Loyalty to your church and pastor. 

Greater liberality. 

More hatred for sin and love for holiness. 

Bad temper kept under by divine grace. 

More consideration for your fellows. 

Some definite Christian work. 

Informing yourself about missionary work. 

Reading less harmful literature, and more good books. 

Giving up your membership of the critics , club, and joining 
the encouraging society 

Learning the twelfth of Romans by heart, and lastly- 
Living it. 

BIBLE REVIVALS. 

"The Repentance Revival. "-Mark I, 

REVIVALS, like men, have their characteristics. So this 
revival of John the Baptist had for its cry of victory, 
u Repentance." If I had power to raise the dead, the first man 
Td bring forth would be this mighty preacher. His first and 
best work would be to gather together the students of theo- 
logical schools, and teach them to be preachers of repentance. 
It's a fact that may as w r ell be stated, and stated now, that the 
harvest of " Repentance Preachers " is far too small to meet 
the needs of the times. We have "love" preachers, and 
"peace' 1 preachers, and " jcy " preachers ; but successors of 
John the Baptist are few. 

Then a mass-meeting of mean, stingy, clo<^e, penurious 
Christians should have him as main speaker. Where to get a 
place to hold them all would be a serious question. 

Following this, let him take the no small crowd who think 
by money they can purchase heaven. Great numbers think 
because of their charity they will pass the portals. This can 
never be. Alms-giving is good, but is not sufficient to save a 
sinner. 

By this time, under the repetition of the sermons he gave pre- 
ceding Christ, there will have come a trembling amcng the 
godless, a cry among the convicted, and salvation among the 
truly repentant. 

"The Ephesian Revival."-Acts X!X. 

For those who like noise, this revival will suit them. There 
was plenty of it. Some dear, good people can never enjoy a 
service unless it is full of shout and fervor that boils over in 
outward expression. God has all kinds of people, and He evi- 
dently suits His work to the need of all. If some like the 
shout, let them have it : ethers may not like that kind, and 
they are entitled to respect. For myself, I like to keep to the 
middle of the road. I don't think, however, the church is dy- 
ing just now from over-expression in religion. It may be that 
she is dying from a lack of it, for true piety will always, in a 
company, find itself given to expressions of joy. 

This Ephesian revival needs close study. The excitement 
of the crowd, the repentance and the results, all demand at the 
hands of soul-winners thorough study and meditation. 

As one result of this revival we get the book of u Ephe- 
sians," which is the ripest of all the Pauline epistles. 



and Bible Study. 21 



The Dry-bone Revival. -Ezekiel XXXVII. 

This chapter in Ezekiel is fine reading- for those whose 
religious lot is cast in a dry place, and there are not a few who 
suffer from location. 

Many a true-hearted minister of Jesus Christ cries out in 
bitter anguish for some sphere where he can do something for 
God fitting his ambition and hopes and talents, though he may 
never mention the last even to himself. 

Many a parent cries unto the Creator for a place where the 
children may be brought up under influences such as will 
turn the hearts of their loved ones to God. 

They dwell in a land where, religiously speaking, the place 
is full of bones, and they are very dry. Dry prayers, dry 
songs, dry meetings, dry deacons, dry teachers, dry— every- 
thing and everybody. 

If some readers in finding this declare they live amidst the 
valley of dry bones, I bid you hope. Seek God and ask Him 
to send a prophet there who will preach till the very dead 
hear the word of the Lord and live. This thirty-seventh of 
Ezekiel is a chapter that was written to give hope to the 
hopeless. 

The Pentecost Revival,— Acts II. 

Three thousand converts in one day ! Glorious and mighty 
was this ; but, beloved, be not given to littleness of faith, for 
the Church is now at work in her multiplied ways so that 
almost every day we live that many are added to the Church. 
Rejoice with me, but let us not rejoice overmuch. There were 
one hundred and twenty workers. Suppose every one hun- 
dred and twenty Christians now could get that many con- 
verts ; not in a day or a week or a month, but in a year. How 
the angels would rejoice ! How wildernesses would blossom 
like roses ! Can this be brought to pass ? Yes ; if you do your 
part and get right with God and keep so, and the others do 
the same. " The same cause will always produce the same 
results " — this is a scientific fact. 



"The Damascus Road Revival."— Acts IX. 

Numbers in a revival do not always count the most, so 
far as this world is concerned. Ofttimes one man or woman 
saved is more to the church militant than a hundred. I doubt 
if you can find a bigger revival in the Bible than this one 
on the Damascus road : only one out of the number saved, 
but that one equalled in power and influence all the known 
converts of some revivals where ten thousand have been 
reported saved. 

Let the preacher, the evang-elist, the soul-winner, get so 
filled with the Spirit that literally he is consumed with devo- 
tion to God ; then he will appear asa u great light,*" and, com- 
ing suddenly upon some mighty sinner, overtake him with 
the same message Jesus used with Saul, and the results in 
conversion will follow. I've quite made up my mind to do 
more of this personal work with the Sauls who are abroad 
persecuting the church. A few like him converted would 
revolutionize the close of this old century. 

Fellow- worker, pick out some one person now, and seek to 
lead that one to Christ. Nine out of every ten revivals worth 
having begin that way. 

"The Persecution Revival."— Acts XI. 

The death of Stephen was untimely. So many would nat- 
urally say, " Such a man, if left in the world, could have done 
so much good." But it's often the case one can do more dead 
than alive ; here is an example. His death scattered them 
abroad, and everywhere they went like flaming torches of 



22 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

light, and revival fires sprang up in places remote as well as 
near. 

Persecuted Christians, if of the right stuff, will often do 
more for the cause than those in quiet and ease. 

I venture to say that a good and thorough persecution of 
the Christian Church in all the world would do much for the 
kingdom of God. I don't know that I'm ready to pray that 
the good God send such, but nevertheless, from the pages of 
history— and God is in all history— I can see that thus he has 
widened the sway of His Son as nothing else could have done. 

Who will ever forget that " the blood of martyrs is the seed 
of the church " ? 

Prayer.— O Lord ! send this wicked world a great revival. 
Cost us what it may. Send us a work of grace that will reach 
the perishing millions. 

"The Iconium Revival. "-Acts XIV. 

In this revival I want my readers to notice three words in 
the first verse of the chapter. " And so spake. '' 

There was something in their manner of speech and tone, 
that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks were con- 
verted. Now I notice — 

First. — There is much speaking in revival meetings that 
does not bring conversions. 

Secondly. — This lack is due to a well-known cause, which 
is lack of unction ; or, more plainly written, is a lack of the 
speaker in being filled with the Holy Ghost. 

Thirdly.— This lack may be supplied by waiting on God in 
confession of sin and forsaking of same ; beseeching God to 
send His Spirit upon you for service. 

Fourthly.— Both classes named as converts in this revival 
were considered as peculiarly hard to reach. 

Fifthly. — Hard or not hard, the Gospel preached, won them 
for Christ, as it always will when presented by workers filled 
with faith and joy and the Holy Ghost. 

Sixthly.— Notice how you speak, and if there be a lack of 
power to produce results, wait on God for enduement such as 
these workers had. 

"The Philippian Revival. "-Acts XVI. 

Thank God this revival was ever held ! Out of it we get 
the story of the Philippian jailer, the duet singers at mid- 
night, the character of Epaphroditus, and the whole Phil- 
ippian Epistle. Things worth more than gold. The fact is, 
this sixteenth chapter of Acts is good reading even for one 
not a Christian. It has life in it. Forty verses, and all meat. 

I like verse 9. Here is a committee of one inviting an 
evangelist to Europe, and 1 like the idea of his going on this 
invitation. Some won't go unless they get a mighty big peti- 
tion signed by a score or more. And he goes to the chief city, 
too. It was a man who got Paul to come, but it was a woman 
who first got converted, and her household. This secured 
them a place of entertainment. Then came the devil in a 
damsel, and there was trouble. You can always tell a true 
revival born of God, by the activity of Satan and his imps. 
There are some meetings he does not trouble himself about ; 
he doesn't need to. 

u Stripes and prison " doesn't sound very well. I doubt if 
Paul and Silas had many applicants as assistants in this field. 
This kind would weed out some present driftwood, I'm think- 
ing. 

Two men against a whole town ! Business upset, and 
earthquakes added, must have created quite an excitement. If 
I were a betting man, I'd wager no small sum that more than 
one preacher w r ould rather things go on as they are than to 
have an evangelist and such excitement to get converts. 

I don't find Paul verv excited, but the devil very much so ; 
and the Lord seems to have thought enough of the meeting to 



and Bible Study, 23 

work in an unusual manner. Give us more Philippian re- 
vivals. 

"The Roman Revival. "-Acts XXVIII. 

The last two verses of the Book of Acts— and we must re- 
member this is God's hand-book on revivals — gives the tale of 
a protracted work of grace in Rome. Two whole years the 
work went on. I notice this about it— th ere were both 1 1 preach- 
ing and teaching," two very essential factors in a lasting work 
of grace. Nowadays we get the preaching with the teaching 
left out, and the result is poor converts ; fallings away, that 
disgrace the cause and do harm to our religion. An evan- 
gelist comes to a city, and with holy zeal preaches such truth 
as to awaken the sinner, and then leads him to the Cross ; but 
the work must not stop there. The pastor or people who let it 
stop there are guilty of a great crime. Teaching must follow, 
if God is glorified, or souls are truly saved. I frankly state I 
doubt the wisdom of planning for any revival work by an 
evangelist, or any one else, that does not include a sure and 
true care of every person who is awakened, convicted, or con- 
verted. No revival can " stop " when the special services are 
over, without injury to many souls who may suffer forever. 

"The Covenant Revival."— 2 Chron.XV. 

It's not often that a revival of this character comes. My ! 
what consternation there must have been amongst the 
crowd of lukewarm professors and covetous business men 
when the edict went forth that " they should seek God with 
their whole heart, and whosoever would not thus do should 
be put to death, whether small or great, whether men or 
women. 1 ' 

I reckon there was no small amount of talk about " methods " 
about that time. Social engagements sadly interfered with, 
business brought to a standstill. Prayer-meetings replacing 
amusements. 

Oh, how I wish the record of conversations had come down 
to us ! Many and many a one ready to oppose any such 
movement. I can hear one of the" kickers " telling how " he 
doesn't propose to do any such thing." " It's fanatical." " I 
won't be made a fool." u Those enthusiasts in religion ought 
to be locked up." Possibly some of them swore, but it was of 
no avail. They had to do it. The law was, "seek Him or 
die," and the record tells us "they sought Kim." Law is a 
good thing, a blessed thing ; it works out that which nothing 
else can. In my early days we had these compulsory revivals. 
It took the switch to get me to meeting — sometimes to get 
me even dressed to go. The revival thus beginning in my 
legs under fear of the switch, came at last to my heart. 



TO THE POINT. 

WHEN you've got a thing to say, 
Say it ! Don't take half a day. 
When your tale's got little in it, 
Crowd the whole thing in a minute ! 
Life is short— a fleeting vapor — 
Don't you fill the whole blank paper 
With a tale which, at a pinch, 
Could be cornered in an inch ! 
Boil her down until she simmers ; 
Polish her until she glimmers. 
When you've got a thing to say, 
Say it ! Don't take half a day ! " 



24 Hints on Prayer, Revivals -, 



FAITH THAT SAVES. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS gave this definition of Faith, and it 
is so true and helpful to sinners needing salvation that I 
would have every one write it on the front fly-leaf of their 
Bible : 

Forsaking 
All, 
I 

Take 
Him. 

IN THE DITCH OR OUT OF IT. 

YOU are rather blue this morning ; what's the matter ? " 
" Don't know. 1 ' 

" Better see the parson ; maybe he can help you. 1 ' 

" No, I saw him Thursday night ; had a full hour's chat, 
but it's no use. I guess I'm queer." 

" No doubt about that, Ed ; we all are. But your case is 
not too hard for God. I don't believe He wants you to go 
mourning around, seeking salvation for weeks, and not find- 
ing it. If I read the Bible straight, it says : " Now is the day of 
salvation' ; and that doesn't mean waiting from Thursday 
till Sunday, or from Thursday till any day, to find what you 
want." 

11 Yes, I know ; but the fact is, I'm in the ditch. There is 
no use denying it. I have neither peace of mind, nor peace 
of heart, nor joy of life, nor anything else which I hear them 
say they have. These Christians are a funny set ; they get 
hold of an intangible something and " 

" What are you men talking about ? " 

Thus spoke a tall, bright gentleman, who came across from 
the other side of the church, having seen Mr. George Brown 
and Edward Stone conversing in earnest tones together. It 
was at the close of the morning sermon, in the old First 
Church of Daxell. Edward Stone, or rather Ed Stone, for 
everybody called him that, was a fine fellow of about twenty- 
seven. He had been a little wild in the early years of his 
majority ; but at the close of a series of special meetings held 
last winter, he was missed from his usual place amongst the 
crowd, and sought the house of God and the prayer-meetings. 
He frankly told how he would like to be a Christian, and was 
trying the best he knew how, to be one ; but he found only 
misery in the trial. 

The man who broke in on their talk, and cut Stone's sen- 
tence in two, was a warm friend of both men, and a warm 
Christian, too. His business kept him much away from 
home, and always, when in New York, where he was com- 
pelled to spend much time, he gave his leisure evenings to 
mission work, and so knew the quick and only remedy for 
sin-sick souls. 

Finding out the condition of affairs, he laughed outright at 
Stone for trying to be a Christian. 

" Trying to be a Christian ! Nonsense ! May as well try 
to be president. You are one of thousands who have gone 
for light to the blind ; looking for San Francisco on the 
Atlantic coast. Why, Stone, you can no more try to be a 
Christian than you can try to be an angel ; and the reason 
you are in the ditch is because you expect the delights and 
enjoyments of Christian life before you are a Christian. 
Christian experiences are the results of Christianity, not the 
cause of it. 

11 Let me help you. There is my wife over there ; ten years 
ago I asked her if she would be mine. You can put this 
down as true, she did not say l she would try.' There wasn't 
any try about it. She couldn't try to be my wife. She said, 
' Yes, I will,' and became mine. Now she gets the try in the 
right place, trying to be a good wife ; but she never tries to 



and Bible Study. 25 

be my wife. So you can try to be a good Christian, but you 
can never try to be a Christian. 

" God comes and asks, 'Will you be mine? ' and you an- 
swer, 'Yes, I will. 1 Then you become His, all His. Just 
like my wife became mine. She gave up her own name, she 
gave up her home, she gave up herself. She just gave up all, 
and became mine, and now I take care of her. You wouldn't 
dare to call her Miss Jeffreys ; that would be an insult to her. 
She would say, ' Thank you, sir, Fm not Miss Jeffreys, I'm 
Mrs. Dane."' Stone, flesh and blood may make a body, and 
body and soul make a man, but it's man and Christ that make 
a Christian. Not man and trying, but man and Christ ; so 
you just quit this trying, and receive Jesus as your Lord and 
Master, as your Saviour, giving yourself all to Him, and you 
will get out of this ditch of death in a hurry." 

Edward Stone saw his mistake at once. He grasped the 
truth of what conversion meant, and in a moment laid hold 
on Christ. And the preacher and some deacons coming out 
of the study at the other end of the church at that instant, 
wondered what was the matter with the three men over in 
the corner, they were all as happy as children at Christmas. 

Who would not be happy to get out of the ditch of sin, up 
to the broad fields of salvation ! 

I wonder, dear reader, whether you are in the ditch or out 
of it? 

VIRGIN SOIL. 

THE hardest are the easiest to reach . I'm writing unto some 
preacher who for many long months has been trying to 
get some of his listeners converted. His Gospel messages 
have no more effect than a drop of water to wet a desert. 
They are Gospel-hardened, case-hardened, heart-hardened, 
conscience-hardened, life-hardened. 

To keep on at these is to tire the most tireless worker : take 
my advice and leave them in their own selfishness awhile and 
go to the unchurched masses. Get out in the open, stand on 
some street corner, sing up the crowd, and then give them 
the truth in a winsome way — give it to them hot from your 
heart. Don't fool away any of your time or theirs— get right 
at their conscience, their emotions, and their wills, and you 
will do more good in ten minutes there on that virgin soil 
than in ten weeks to a self-satisfied lot of church-goers who 
have no more idea of being converted under your ministry 
than a cat has of getting wings. After I tried it the other 
night, I thought I would get a little help to sing up the crowd : 
they failed me. The little organ brought in the wagon to help 
along had no player. Another failure. Some expected friends 
to stand about as backers did not turn up ; only three workers 
came near — circumstances all adverse, but there were the peo- 
ple passing by, and I had the Gospel, so at it we went. It 
was a precious fifteen minutes; no congregation ever listened 
with more attention. Their faces showed their interest. 
Jesus moved in their midst. I can't tell all the results— some 
I can. One man who had not been in a church for seven years, 
a foreman of the machine shop for a large railway compan}', 
is now a good Christian, all as a result of that brief service. 

Try Virgin Soil, my brother ; it will do you good. So it will 
those to whom you go. 

MARK THIS. 

** There is a time, we know not when, 
A point, we know not where, 
That marks the destiny of men 
For glory or despair.' 1 

I WOULD have you stop in your reading now for a full five 
minutes : quietly— if that be possible— meditate on this 
fact, that maybe this day some one will reach that point, walk- 
ing side by side with you, and a word of Gospel from you, 
aptly given, may give them glory and not despair. 



26 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 



WHERE TO CO. 

THERE is a little fellow who was neglected or forgotten 
at Christmas, and I want you to look him up quick and 
care for him. 

It won't be a pleasant visit from outward surrounding, and 
you will need to fill up with grace before you start, and fill 
your pockets too. When you find him he will be so uncouth and 
ragged that it will take all there is of you to get out smiles 
and cheery words, and faith to believe your visit will do any 
good ; but it will. Just be your true, Christian self in the visit; 
let yourself out. And when you are in heaven, a hundred 
years from new, he will be there likely, to surprise you with 
the change. He lives in your town, and his name is Tommy 
Dirt, of Tangle Foot Alley. 



CALLED "OUT." 

I BELIEVE in a call— a divine call to the ministry, a call 
that is imperative ; and when God thus speaks by his Spirit 
and Providence, let none refuse. But I, too, believe in a call 
out, as well as a call in. 

When men have outlived or outgrown their usefulness, let 
them no more stand in the place where they can hinder instead 
of help the work. I know I'm on delicate ground now, but 
boldness is necessary, and I hesitate not. The cause of Christ, 
the saving of the lost, is more than any man or set of men. 
Who is there with any extended experience that does not know 
of those who, by all the rules that govern judgment, should 
quit the places they fill, and give way for men of push, piety, 
and power ? This question is one of such delicacy and of such 
a character that no one can be found who will move in an open 
way by authority to displace these mentioned. It cannot be 
reached in that way. It must be left to the individual and his 
God, and in devout prayer he must settle it : and if the eye of 
one gets on this page who has heard the call "out," let him 
obey as he did before when the call was "in." 

This is true service, and will have its sure reward. 

No soldier who fought for freedom and the flag is mere 
worthy of pension and care than he who in the warfare of sin 
fought till age and strength ordered him to the rear. A church 
that will not support her worn-out preachers is not worthy a 
name on earth— I doubt her having any name in heaven. 



TAKE WARNING. 

HE who holds the keys of life and death has spoken to me in 
loud voice of late. I cannot hold back the truth of imme- 
diate surrender on the part of every sinner to the claims of Al- 
mighty God, and the acceptance of his Son Jesus Christ as Sav- 
iour. At an opening service this winter I closed the Sabbath 
night meeting at nine o'clock, and at nine-twenty, one who sat 
in the pew was dead. In January, while at St. James, Harlem, 
one Sunday, there gathered with the throng a woman whose 
ball dress was complete for the gay affair the following Tues- 
day night. She went not, for Thursday they buried her in the 
same gown; and still another of that same congregation slept 
beneath the sod when again on Sabbath morning I arose to 
tell saint and sinner alike, "This is not our abiding place." 
Preacher ! your next sermon may be the last to some soul. 



BE NATURAL. 

HEARKEN ! ! the next time you get up to preach, or 
speak, or pray, be natural. Of all silly and sad things 
endured by audiences of this day, it is to listen out a speaker 
who struts, or squeals, or drawls out his address. 



and Bible Study. 27 

Be natural, cost what it may ; for only thereby can one be 
effective. 

I've heard men, and so have you, who it would be hard to 
believe, from their tone and manner of speech, ever talked to 
an individual; if they did, and talked like that, surely the 
braying of an ass were music indeed. 

Some phonograph company could do no better service than 
to record certain addresses quietly, then have the deliverer 
hear his own voice. The only trouble would be fear of add- 
ing to the number of suicides. Some men, if they only knew 
what fools they make of themselves every time they talk in 
public, by their mannerisms and voices and gestures, would 
pray for death. 



MORE NIMRODS WANTED. 

NIMROD was a great hunter, and while the Bible never 
tells us to go gunning but always fishing for men, nev- 
ertheless more Nimrods are now wanted in the field where 
preachers live. Men who will hunt for souls. I have just met 
a man whom I would call a Nimrod. So far as learning is 
concerned, he has it— enough titles following his name to make 
a whole conference jealous ; but there is one more I'd like to 
add, the initials would be A.G.H. These three in my opinion 
are far more excellent and worthy than Ph.D. or D.D. or 
LL.D., though he is worthy all three. Mine mean, a great 
hunter. Scores upon scores of men and women hunted out 
and housed in the Lord's sanctuary. Old church letters hunted 
up and put where they belong. Awakened sinners hunted 
after till they fly for refuge to the Cross. Reader, are you 
a spiritual Nimrod ? 



HOW TO HELP. 

IT may happen to some of my readers that sooner or later 
they will be put in a position to express an opinion or vote 
on some Christian work or worker. Let me advise you : 

1. Keep still unless you have good judgment. 

2. Form your judgment out of facts. 

3. Let your faith have full play. 

4. Be careful and bright when speaking. 

5. Don't expect every one to think as you do. 

6. Remember God may lead others w r here He has not led 
you. 

7. Keep your mind open for enlightenment. 

8. Don't spend all your life voting — save some to help exe- 
cute the plan. 



ILLUSTRATE YOUR TRUTH. 

I WANT to put in a big plea that teachers, preachers, and 
evangelists illustrate their truth more. I get this from a 
close study of the methods of Jesus. He constantly enforced 
his teachings by illustrations so apt that to this day, in repeat- 
ing them, you can see how full of life and power they were. 
To study the thirteenth chapter of Matthew or the fifteenth 
chapter of Luke will reveal what I mean. 

I don't believe one can be guided by the Holy Spirit and 
not use illustrations to some degree, at least, in his work. I 
find all through the Bible God-led men are forever appealing 
to men in that way. 

I believe in this theme is the secret of filling empty pews 
and getting more converted than we are now doing. 

Hunt for good illustrations like a hunter seeks for game. 



Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 



TRUST THE PEOPLE. 

IT is very seldom you find an audience that cannot be 
trusted. If you deal with them justly and frankly they 
will respond nine times out of ten. 

They won't stand any tricks. Neither will they be deceived. 
An individual is not half so quick in detecting fault as an 
audience. Perfect honesty is necessary on the part of any 
speaker or leader who leads for any length of time a crowd. 
If he does not have this, he won't long have the crowd. 

Because an audience fails sometimes to do what is expected 
is not always their fault. The leader may be to blame. I 
have known this to be true over and over again. 

My brother, if you are a leader, let me say : Trust the 
people, put confidence in them, they like it. They will not 
betray you. 

Of course there are exceptions. I, too, have known when 
an audience became worse than a balky horse. 

Using a club won't make them go. 



DON'T KNOW IT. 

SOME men can't preach and don't know it. 
Some men can't sing and don't know it. 
Some men can"t lead and don't know it. 
Some men are stingy and don't know it. 
Some men are meaner than meanness and don't know it. 
Some people act like fools constantly and don't know it. 
Some official men are great bores and don't know it. 
Some Christians are very lazy and don't know it. 
Some people can't tell green from blue, nor a good sermon 
from a poor one, but they don't know it. 



GIVING. 

THERE is about as much meanness to the square inch in 
the giving which takes place in the ordinary collections 
as is to be found anywhere on the earth. 

People enter the Lord's house, expect the great God to hear 
and answer their many prayers, bless them with His presence 
and power, give them love and joy and peace, bestow on 
them such mercies as only He can give, and then at the close 
put a cent on the plate. Bless me ! I don't wonder that 
some meetings are as void of juice and results as a gate-post 
is of blossoms. 



HIT THE MARK. 

I WANT a word with the Christian soldiers. So I take this 
method of saying. " Hit the Mark. 1 ' As soldiers in the 
army of Christ, remember that parading and practice do no 
slaughter. 

By this time, if your church is alive, you will be well in the 
fight against the devil and all his imps, seen and unseen. Live 
churches don't wait for any new year. Now is the time. So 
I expect you are pushing ahead like Wellington at Waterloo. 

Be sure you have an aim in all you undertake ; plan to get 
something. Go in to succeed, and know what kind of success 
you want. I'm going to be bold enough to set up a mark for 
you in your religious warfare, and I want you to hit it. Stir 
every one else up in your parish to hope for the same. It is 
this. A revival that will bring the following : 

i. A genuine revival. 

2. A greater love for the Bible. 

3. Genuine conversions by the Spirit of God. 

Just take those three items up, one by one, and look at them. 

" A revival." That will mean a lot of church quarrels 

straightened out, a lot of old debts paid, a lot of broken family 



and Bible Study. 29 

altars restored, filling up of empty pews and making- happy 
church and missionary treasurers. It will mean more than 
that in extent. You will see a lot of old church letters brought 
out from bottoms of trunks and handed to preachers. You 
will see smiles of joy on faces that have been given to frowns. 
Less Sunday newspapers will be sold. There will be less 
talk of pugilists, a less number of booby and other prizes. 
Prayer-meeting nights will be held sacred, and indecent 
shows will have less decent people at them. The fact is, I 
cannot tell all the good things that will come from "hitting 
that mark." 

" A greater love for the Bible." To hit that mark means 
more than one pen can write. Why, I'd rather get people 
reading the Bible with thought and prayer than anything 
else I can think of. Nothing will do them so much good. 
You can no more keep a Bible-reading, Bible-living, Bible- 
talking community from rising spiritually, and temporally, 
too, for that matter, than you can keep spring flowers from 
growing after April showers. 

" Genuine conversions by the Spirit of God." Oh, that the 
good God may help you aim for this in every sanctuary, ser- 
mon, and service. To get people converted. Converted to 
God. Converted from sin to righteousness. Converted so 
not only the heart but the whole life is changed. Converted 
so thoroughly as to be a standing argument for Christ's res- 
urrection. Converted to stay. Converted so as to be able to 
stand up and say so. Converted so that God, men, angels, 
and devils will know it. 

Christian soldier, hit this mark. 



THE "119." 

IT was always a puzzle to me how one man could preach 
and get three thousand converts at a single service, but 
Peter and his Pentecost are no mystery now. Of course I 
knew it was because of the Holy Ghost poured out, and yet I 
knew, with all that, there must be some secret to the wonder- 
ful success. And secret there is, and it's bound up in the one 
hundred and nineteen. TAey went out, as well as Peter, full 
of the Spirit, and without waiting to ask if those they met 
belonged to their town. They began to tell of the wonderful 
works of God. On an average, I suppose, each spoke to about 
twenty-five people. Men and women ablaze with holy zeal, 
anxious for souls, full of faith, bold and courageous, followed 
up their mighty prayer-meeting with personal work. Then 
evidently came the discourse of Peter with its glorious harvest. 
Hearken ! ! I believe it, as much as I believe the sun rises in 
the east, that if a Preacher, Teacher, Evangelist, or chosen 
worker of God by any name, can get one hundred and nine- 
teen to join him in ten days of prayer, and then follow with a 
bold dash of pointed personal Christian work, followed by a 
sermon on Christ such as is given in Acts ii., then will come 
another Pentecost. 
Try it ; ok, try it / 



COURAGE. 

WE may as well face the facts without flinching, and learn 
one great element of weakness in much Christian work 
of the present day, which is a lack of holy courage. I have 
given much thought and study to this, and now give you the 
results of my research in and out of the Bible, in and out of 
the pulpit, in and out of the home. 

First, as for the Bible— I am amazed at the dauntless cour- 
age, the divine daring of its character. No one can take up 
the study of Abraham and read between the lines, but what 
this will stand out like mountains rising from the plain. See 
Moses, a man of meekness, yet a man of such might that he 
dare face the field and foe from which he fled. Helped by 
God, he compels a monarch to give an emancipation procla- 



30 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

mation, and slaves under burden and lash walk out into lib- 
erty, two millions and more of them. 

Oh, for more men like Moses, who with the courage of a 
conqueror will enter the cities where Satan has his seat, and 
demand in the name of Jesus, our King, the release of those 
under the burden and lash of sin ! 

It yet remains to be seen what a man of unfaltering faith 
and courage can do. The noble examples of the past can be 
written in the history of the ,ages as only candles compared to 
the mystic electric lights of those who reach for the opportu- 
nities of the present. God help us ! 

And the pulpit -oh, how it is hampered by the sickly, fawn- 
ing sentiment of pew-pleasing ! Thousands upon thousands 
of noble men — noble in possibility, made worse than weak by 
a lack of courage to preach as they know they ought, to pray 
as they know they can, if God gets hold of them, to work so 
mat all devils, and a lot of men and women, too, will get 
madder than March hares. Talk of reaching the masses! It 
will never be done till the pulpit gets leaders, and that does 
not mean peace, but a sword. My brother minister, what say 
you now to a vow that God shall be our only leader, and if it 
makes the high priests, Sanhedrims, and rulers mad till there 
come the prison doors for us, we will yet let Him lead ? 

And the home. Here is where courage born of God is 
needed. 

Courage to keep sweet. 

Courage to make things go right. 

Courage to pray for every one by name. 

Courage to follow out the Bible instructions about chasten- 
ing when needed. 

Courage to make the children obey. 

Courage to command aright and make things swing to the 
level of good order all around. 

Oh, for more courage ! Thus let us pray ! 



A" WHITE" SERVICE. 

TRUTH carried to the heart by the eye is very effective. 
The following service, easily arranged, is most impres- 
sive : 

i. Announce it as a " white service" to give the lesson of 
purity. 

2. Trim the desk, organ, and room in white. 

3. Ask all who come to wear white, and all the leaders and 
singers in front to be sure to do so. 

4. Every one to wear white flowers, and have the same in 
profusion all about the room. 

5. All hymns to bear that stamp, like " More holiness give 
me," and " Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." 

6. The following Scripture to be presented in a varied and 
attractive manner. 

Isaiah i. 18 : " Sins as crimson and scarlet, shall be as snow." 
Psalm li. 7 : " Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."" 
Rev. iii., 5 : " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed 

in white raiment." 
Rev. vii. 14: ''These are they which have washed their 

robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 
The truth to be presented is : 

1. None naturally clean. 

2. All, supernaturally, can be made so. 

3. God alone can purify the heart. 

4. The blood of Christ and the Holy Ghost. 
Enforce the teachings of : " 

1. A clean heart, 

2. A clean life, 

3. A pure conscience, 

4. A sure heaven to follow. 

To illustrate, use four pieces of linen about a yard square. 
First piece very dirty and stained. 
Second piece less so. 
Third piece only a single spot. 



and Bible Study. 3 1 

Fourth piece perfectly clean. 

Explain, the first three are unclean— degree ; the last 
one only, pure. 
The great question : 

Who desires purity of heart and life? 

SOME THINCS TO HOLD ON TO. 

HOLD on to your individuality. As a Christian worker, 
don't you turn yourself or allow any one else to turn you 
into another likeness. Your personality is your power. Ape 
no one. Be yourself. You may learn from others, but when 
you use their good points, make and mold them over into a 
fitness for you. Actions, like shoes, should fit the wearer. 
In being yourself, don't be a fool. Some people imagine every 
whim, every quirk, every mannerism, every way of theirs is 
the sum of all perfection. This is foolishness. 

2. Hold on to your convictions. Some have none to hold 
on to. Get convictions and get them quick. Convictions of 
duty, of responsibility ; convictions about sin and the sinner ; 
about Jesus and salvation : convictions about how to reach 
the lost with life. Nothing but deep and abiding convictions 
will impel the Christian worker constantly on. 

3. Hold to your purposes. For surely you have them. 
Noble purposes for your talents and your years. Life plans 
which you set for your aim both in this world and the next ; 
hold on to these ; let no power of earth or hell rob you of 
them. To attain them may take toil, tears, and travail, but 
the joy of realization is worth all it costs ; for a noble aim fully 
worked out will abide when the sun shines no more. 

4. Hold on to your work. I speak concerning religious 
work, more especially. Don't you give up your field because 
it is a hard one. Don't step out because you are no priest. 
If you are not a fit, thin down or fatten up to the size of your 
sphere. If things don't move — move them. If you can't do 
it, God can. Seek His help, and together labor. 

5. Hold on to that which is good— all else let go. 



SPEAKERS. 

LET every man who is now making arrangements for 
speakers, remember that the day demands, and the 
people require, not doubtful men or men of doubt, but faith- 
ful men and men of faith to deliver the messages. 

Let every Christian assemblage have speakers and preach- 
ers who will do seven things as they stand before the many 
or the few. 

1. Remember they speak as a living man to living men. 

2. Have something fresh to say. It may not be new 
material, but let it be served as fresh as berries just from 
the vine— dead ripe. 

3. Say it and say it well. Say it naturally. Say it in earn- 
est. 

4. Quit when you are through. It's an awful bore to listen 
to a man talking after he has finished. 

5. Don't try to tell all you know in one address or sermon. 
The man who does this is not fit to preach. 

6. Come out from behind high desks. Give the people a 
chance to see if the sermon has gone shoe-deep in your own 
life. 

7. Have a purpose every time you speak, and hit the mark. 
It's wonderful how people like to be hit, and hit hard. The 
man who doesn't make me squirm a little, is apt to find my 
seat vacant next time. 



32 Hints on Prayer ; Revivals, 



"HOLY DARING." 

'"pHERE is a boiling- point for courage and faith, where it 

X assumes a new phase, and might be termed holy daring ; 

and at this point things tell mightily for God and His kingdom. 

The life of Paul reveals it constantly. Luther frequently 
reached such a crisis, and hence the Reformation. 

The " Johns " of history— John Calvin, John Knox, John 
Wesley, John Howard, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards— all 
knew what it was to be brave to the point of daring. 

Many clergymen of this day need it, to save their parishes 
from utter failure. 

Many statesmen need it, to save the land from unholy trusts 
and combinations, and wicked laws. 

Many business men need it, to get them out of business 
that will damn them and theirs, here and hereafter, if they 
continue in their present course. 

Many young men and women need it, to break from associ- 
ations that will soon ruin them, body and soul. 

Reader, maybe you need it. 
pray. 

A NIGHT IN PRISON. 

IN the lock-up." 
" Arrested and in jail." 

" Always to face the fact of having been in prison." 

Not very comfortable thoughts these, especially to one who 
had borne a good name and was married. 

" What would his wife think ? " 

" What would her folks say ? " 

" What would his friends say ? " 

44 How about to-morrow — when his trial is to come off? " 

All this and much more ran through my mind as I read, in 
the quiet of my room, the fourth of Acts, and stopped at verse 
three. 

It's Peter, who with John had been doing the work of God, 
and as a result found himself in this plight. Without going 
into the story, which is one of great interest in itself, I want 
to draw some lesson for my readers. Suppose I put it in this 
wise : " Duty done and the prison, or duty undone and free- 
dom.' 11 If these two faced you squarely, which would you 
choose ? 

Then again. How much of the bitter wine of astonishment 
would you be willing to drink to see the cause of Christ ad- 
vance ? 

Once more. Are not Christian character and achievements 
of Christianity due more largely to suffering of one kind 
or another, than to ease and quietness ? Think on these 
things. 

ACTIVE AT EIGHTY-FOUR. 

LATELY I looked over a crowd of men and women in the 
prime of life. They all called themselves Christians ; 
but I felt ashamed of them— heartily ashamed. It was a sea- 
son of revival. Much was needed to be done, and searching 
out the workers, real workers, I found one dear old lady who 
was eighty-four years old, and she was doing more than any 
half dozen of the rest. Active, prayerful, zealous, faithful. 
At it all the while, and often awake nights thinking and pray- 
ing for salvation. I hope if I live to be eighty-four I'll be 
like her. . 

A NICE FAMILY. 

IT'S so good to meet a nice family. I found one not long 
since. It was Mr. and Mrs. Pulwell. They live on Con- 
tent Avenue ; have a number of children : one of them, Grace, 
as fine a girl as ever was born, and her sister Ruth is the de- 
light of everybody. 



and Bible Study. 33 

I noticed this: they; all pulled one way. Mrs. Pulwell seemed 
to think her duty in life was to be a home-maker ; and he — that 
is, Mr. Pulwell— thought so too, and he helped, and she helped, 
and they all helped together, till, I declare, you could not 
find a cross thing in the house. Even the stone pipes in the 
cellar took a graceful turn , instead of swinging suddenly off at 
right angles. I noticed the kitchen girl, as well as the up- 
stairs maid, wore contented looks, as though things pulled 
straight with them, too. You ought to know that family. 



SACRIFICE. 

THAT ninth verse of Romans viii. is startling in the ex- 
treme. Try the present church membership by that, 
and you will cut out numbers that will amaze you. 

This is what it says : " Now if any man have, not the Spirit 
of Christ, he is none of His." 

If any spirit manifested itself in the life of Jesus it certainly 
was the spirit of sacrifice. Oh, how He gave ! What devo- 
tion was His to His work ! No massing of wealth. No seek- 
ing of ease. No waiting for others to lead on. He gave and 
gave and gave till He gave His life away. 

Some choice spirits I have met who thus have reminded me 
of the Nazarene, but in our offerings, as a rule, none will 
have to eat less, or dress in poorer garb, or walk instead of 
ride. Few will go without the new coat or gown. Dessert 
will follow at dinner just the same. As many parties will be 
given, as many attended. Scarce a cigar less for millions of 
men, or ribbons and hats and gloves without a change in 
number, quality, and all. 

Now and then a rich man giving largely : but his large 
gifts touch no place save the figures which run up and down 
the scale of how much he is worth. In the life of himself, or 
those who belong to him, there will be no sign to tell the tale 
of his giving. 

I can name you ten men who. faced with the statement 
Christ put to the rich young ruler, and let them do as he did 
not, and they will do more for the cause of Christ in spread- 
ing the Gospel and turning the crowd to the Cross than a 
thousand cold clergymen. This may seem extravagant, but I 
affirm it after thought. 

I affirm another thing ; it is this : We need a revival of 
sacrifice before we need a revival of salvation ; for the one 
will bring the other. 



CAN MEN BE REACHED? 

YES, they can. 
How? 
By preaching a positive Gospel. 
By giving up negations. 
By knowing them and their needs. 
By plain and manly denunciation of sin. 
By moving among them. 

By preaching a heaven here as well as hereafter. 
By special meetings for them. 
By being a living exponent of the Gospel. 
By fearless courage in reaching the conscience. 
By persistent appeals that have unction in them. 



CHANGE CHARACTER-CHANCE CONDITIONS. 

GIVE me your closest attention now. You are one of the 
many who want to help the lower classes up in the 
scale of life. What shall you do, and how shall it be done ? 
are the perplexing problems for you to solve. 

Their misery and filth and sin trouble you. If it would 
really help them, you would part with much of your sub- 
stance ; but this you doubt, seriously doubt, and well you 
3 



34 Hints o?i Prayer, Revivals, 

may. Take the submerged classes, pick out a round thou- 
sand of them, and to each give a thousand dollars, and this 
alone will send them, as a class, nearer the pit of perdition 
than they have ever been ; neither individuals nor classes can 
be redeemed from sin nor its results by gold or silver. 

How, then, can they be helped ? I answer, Change their 
characters, and their conditions will change immediately. 
Get a man converted by the power of the Holy Ghost, and 
then and there he has God in him, as well as God with him, 
to help carry heavy loads up high hills. 

I like kind acts, merciful doings, bright smiles, liberal gifts, 
but no one or all of these were ever intended by our Lord to 
lift the fallen out of their terrible conditions. They are only 
means whereby we may get at them with that most blessed 
of all things, salvation, and, once they get that, the desert of 
their lives will blossom as the rose. 

Many a day my head aches, my heart beats, my blood 
tingles, my face burns with the hot flush of shame, that indi- 
viduals, societies, churches, once alive to the work of giving 
souls eternal life by the Cross, have fallen to the loaves and 
fishes for mind and body which perish with the giving. 



EVANGELIZATION NEEDED. 

THERE are many good people (?) who decry any special 
effort in soul-winning. The very name "Evangelist" 
is abhorrent to them ; anything out of the " regular " is very 
distasteful, and, so far as they can, will oppose any move- 
ment that looks toward "extra meetings.'" 

They have a notion that America is blooming out in all 
beauty of religious life, and to just go on as we are will bring 
us to the day of universal righteousness. Oh, how false is 
this ! To go on as we are, will bring us the triplet of horrors 
— death, devil, and destruction. 

Here is one fact, think of it : 

The number of murders in the United States doubled in 
1891 over 1889. How many were there? Sixteen known 
murders for every one of the 365 days, and the unknown will 
even the figures up one half as many more. Add to this Judge 
Parker's statement : 

4k Of the 4,290 murderers credited to the year 1890, only 102 
were executed pursuant to law, while 127 were lynched ; and 
of the 5,906 murderers of 1891 there were executed only 128, 
while 195 were lynched." Over 10,000 murders in two years 
in the United States ! 



WORKING CHRISTIANS. 

THERE are lazy Christians, idle Christians, quiet Chris- 
tians, noisy Christians, mean Christians, stingy Chris- 
tians, critical Christians, good-for-nothing Christians, and 
others we won't mention, that we have met ; but of all the 
Christians born, none are so good as the working Christians. 
There are too few of them ; you know them when you see 
them. There is an air about them that tells of Hebrews xi. 
and James ii. If you should ask them "why they work," 
they would quickly reply : 

1. Because souls are lost. They know that fools and phi- 
losophy cannot change the fact that there is penalty to broken 
law, and sinners are lawbreakers ; and the sentence passed 
against the soul that sinneth, is death — an awful, endless, 
conscious death, the same as was his who " in hell lifted up 
his eyes, being in torments." 

2. Because souls can be saved. These working Christians 
have well read James v. 20. They know its full meaning. 
They know that an uplifted Christ can reach the lowest. 
They cannot always explain the atonement theologically, but 
they can say, and sing, and satisfy a sinner, that the blood of 
Christ cleanseth from sin. 

3. Because of the example of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus 



and Bible Study. 35 

worked, his followers worked. It was not all talk with him. 
It wasn't all bluster and plans. They did something, and so 
these Christians do something-. The record of their doings 
is not found in newspapers, or always told in meeting, or 
known even to the preacher, but it is all written down. God 
and the angels know, and there will be a day of revelation. 

Now, if you should ask me "how they work," I think I 
could answer that too : 

1. They work thoroughly. No untempered mortar with 
them ; they want souls converted, really converted. They 
don't look for quantity so much as quality. One man 
saved, with his heart changed, is more to them than a dozen 
meetings when five hundred lift their hands for prayer and 
go out to live the same old sinful lives. They want conver- 
sion that will stick by a sinner when men and meetings have 
passed, that will give him power to say " no " to sin and 
" yes " to righteousness, no matter where he is or who is about 
him. 

2. They work decently, and I admire them for this. They 
are not in for getting upa" circus " to please a hundred and 
disgust a thousand. Fire they want and will have ; religious 
fervor they^seek ; but they won't have " wild-fire, 1 ' nor permit 
the devil to carry a good thing from the sublime to the ridic- 
ulous. If a soul is born into God's kingdom shouting happy, 
they let him shout ; but they have too much good sense to 
make everybody else believe it is always like that, or that the 
best meeting is one where there is the most noise. 

3. They work enthusiastically. Zeal consumes them. It is 
not the fever of noise or nonsense, but the zeal of God. Con- 
victions deep and abiding keep them young • when others are 
asleep they are awake. When all seems quiet they are hard- 
est at it. Every now and then I find cities where great re- 
vivals break forth. It looks as if God had suddenly wrought a 
mighty work ; but a little searching revealed the work of work- 
ing Christians, who for long months, and sometimes years, 
had been literally the slaves of Jesus Christ in preparing for 
their harvest day. I have seen attached to the name of some 
one soul-winner the fact that in a week or two he had made 
so many hundred converts in that town. Bless his dear heart, 
how surprised he will be to find the glory of their salvation, 
under God, given to others than himself, people whom he 
never knew, but whom God knew and used to ripen their 
souls for the gathering. 

Dear reader, are you a working Christian ? 



WAITING, 

SOME good folk are always waiting for a better time to 
come than the "now" to serve the Lord Christ in soul- 
winning work. l% Four months and then cometh harvest," 
is repeated over and over. Dear readers, hearken not to un- 
wise counsel either from within or without. If you will pre- 
pare your own heart to go forth with the good seed of the 
kingdom, three things will surely happen : 

1. God will go with you. 

2. Souls will be waiting your coming. 

3. Good results will certainly follow. 

Take July and August ; they would not be counted the best 
revival months of the year by even wise churchmen, and yet 
I have seen in those months thousands of souls pass from 
death unto life. Better conversions I never witnessed. 
They were of all ages— mostly grown people, some of them 
aged. All this at Ocean Grove, the summer seaside resort. 
And why these results ? Simply because a goodly number of 
God's people believed that "now" was the time, and they 
acted accordingly. 

Let the truth of God be presented plainly, forcibly, and in 
earnest, and by those who believe in the presence and the 
power of the Holy Spirit, and conviction for sin will follow 
as naturally as at Pentecost. Then hold up Jesus as a real 
Saviour from sin, and these sufferers, for such they are, as 



36 Hints o?i Prayer, Revivals, 

conviction of sin always brings mental and heart distress, 
will receive Him as theirs. 

I beg of you not to wait for any week of prayer, for any 
series of special services, for any evangelist, for anybody or 
anything. Stir yourself. Awake out of thy sleep. Take 
hold of facts ; they have great power to arouse. Try the fol- 
lowing. It is a fact that— 

i. Men die every day, all around me. 

2. Death forever fixes character. 

3. Without Christ sinners are lost. 

4. Christ presented, they may be saved. 

5. God says : Now is the accepted time. 

6. Neglect of doing good is sin. 

7. You are God's messenger to some one. 

These, and many more that will come to you in an hour of 
solemn thought such as you ought to give the subject, will 
send you forth to your congregation, your Sabbath school, 
your scholars, your children, your employees, your friends, 
in a wise way to do your utmost to win them to Christ, not 
only that they may be saved from hell, where the wicked are 
punished, but saved to a noble and useful Christian life ; for 
it is far better to save a life and soul than to just save a soul. 
I'm glad the thief on the cross passed out and up and in ; but 
a Timothy, saved in his youth and giving God precious years, 
is far better. 

Don't wait, my brother ; I'm persuaded that if you go at it 
with zeal, having big faith, using all the brains given you, 
putting heart power in every act, that before another week 
rolls by, you will have won a sinner from the way of death to 
the path that leads to an endless day. This may start a 
revival. 

A LETTER. 

7\/fR. TURNBA CK. My Dear Sir : I desire to call your at- 
1V1 tention to a portion of God^s Word where it tells of ^ a 
man putting his hand to the plough" and turning back, is 
not fit for the kingdom of heaven. It is my plain and painful 
duty to tell you, you are not fit for the kingdom, and only peo- 
ple get in who are fit. 

You had grace at meals once — now no more. 

You had family prayers once — now no more. 

You read yotir Bible once — now no 7nore. 

You prayed in prayer-meeting once — but have backslidden 
there. 

You once gave in proportion to your income — now you rob 
God. 

You once longed for grace and glory — now you long for 
gumption and gold. 

You were once a winner of souls — but since your financial 
prosperity, there has been less and less of it, till now no one 
joins the host of God from your work. 

You once chided yourself for lukewarmness — but even that 
is passed, and if indications point anywhere, they point to 
the pit towards which you are hastening. 

Had thee not better turn back ? . 

Your friend, 

A, TRUTHFUL. 

HOW TO BACKSLIDE. 

I CERTAINLY should backslide religiously in a month if 
I did nothing but listen to two sermons a week, and attend 
one not over-zealous prayer meeting. 

Some folks can live on a pint of rice a day, but I doubt it 
for myself. So with feeding the soul, if one grows fat there 
must be plenty of good food. 

Three meals a day for body, and three meals a week for 
soul, is a little out of proportion, and apt to give the world, 
the flesh, and the devil the biggest chance for victory. 



and Bible Study. 37 

Just listening - to preachers, and bowing" the head while 
ethers pray, will no more nourish the soul than watching a 
train speed by will carry one across the country. 

It is safe to say the following rules will prove effective in 
producing backsliding nine times out of ten : 

1. Careless praying. 

2. Superficial listening to preaching. 

3. Aimless reading of the Bible. 

4. Too much amusement. 

5. Absence of noble purposes. 

6. Total absorption of the mind by business. 

7. Yielding to selfishness. 

8. A criticising spirit. 

9. Lack of holy endeavor ; and, 

10. Loose views of Scripture doctrines. 



A GOOD LIST. 

THERE are many gatherings w T here good speakers are much 
needed. 

Many a service could be saved from ruin if some one got up 
and gave a straight, honest, happy talk on some theme of in- 
terest to everybody. Of course I am writing concerning re- 
ligious services. There is too much unripe mental fruit served 
up at meetings. 

Reader, get a blank book ; write one item of the list below 
at the head of each page, then begin to gather facts and illus- 
trations and Scripture on that theme, putting all under the 
proper head ; then, when your page is full, straighten out 
your material, throw away any useless stuff, put the good in 
such shape as your mind can grasp, and the first chance you 
get, get it off. 

Courage. Scriptures. Holy Spirit. 

Faith. Jesus. Conversion. 

Enthusiasm. Consecration. Knowledge. 

Love. Endurance. Tact. 

Salvation. Rewards. Experience. 

Prayer. The Law. Manhood. 

Repentance. The Gospel. Destiny. 

Character. Retribution. Grace. 

Sin. Heaven. Hope. 

Joy. Difficulties. Peace. 

Paul. Zeal. Work. 



WANTED. 

SOME one man in the church where you attend, to start with 
nothing but a holy purpose and work up a weekly Bible 
class of one hundred members to study the Gospel of John. 
That looks big, and so it is. I wonder, is it too great for you 
to undertake ? 



TACT. 

DON'T walk up a long aisle with squeaking shoes when the 
preacher is preaching or a solo being sung. 

Don't let a door squeak night after night for the want of 
your putting a little oil on the hinge. 

Don't give a woman with a small babe, apt to cry, a middle- 
aisle front seat. 

Don't rattle a collection together and count it in the ser- 
vice. 

Don't take collections. Ask the people to make offerings. 
Let it be part of the worship. 

Don't leave your brains home when you go to church ; take 
them with you for use. 

Don't accommodate one and disturb a thousand thereby. 



38 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

Get your problem of ventilation fixed, and fixed right, before 
preaching. 

Don't wait for some one else to do what is needed. You do 
it, and without noise. 



KEEP CLEAN. 

DIRT and the devil are boon companions. There are some 
churches unfit for worship, they are too dirty ; floors 
dirty, walls dirty, seats dirty, furniture dirty, windows in 
need of soap and water, corners with cobwebs, stairs greasy 
and galleries filthy, closets filled with rubbish, and back of the 
pulpit desk unfit for a pure parson to look at ; cushions too 
full of dust for a clean man or woman to sit on. 

I've seen the place where the preacher, too, got careless 
and was as dirty as the church. Soiled linen, finger-nails in 
mourning, shoes unblacked. Yes, and his neck and ears were 
dirty. No doubt of it. 

It may be you think this picture overdrawn. It is not. I 
assure you, mine eyes have proved it over and over again, 
and I have kept my peace as long as is possible. 

This is my advice. If you are a member where such things 
can be seen weekly, get' a scrubbing committee at work at 
once— don't wait. Make a solemn vow things shall be cleaned 
up at the meeting-house, and kept so, or that you will make 
trouble. I can assure you one such troubler in a place like 
that would be a heaven-sent blessing. If after the house is 
cleaned and kept so for a month, and there is no change in 
the untidy appearance of those who ought to be neat and 
clean, give notice of your withdrawal at once, and when 
asked for reasons, say : " Dirt and righteousness don't go to- 
gether, and I'm off where things are clean at both ends of the 
church. 1 ' 

It's poor policy to invite people to a place for clean hearts, 
when all about the building are marks of dirt, good agents of 
Satan. 

Clean up and keep clean. 



COVENANT CARD FOR SEEKINC SINNERS. 

THE following covenant card, for use in general revival 
work, is very helpful ; it helps the seeker to a full sur- 
render unto God, and at the same time secures the name and 
address, with church preference. 

Great care should be taken with every one who hands the 
card in, signed, that he fully and heartily meets the covenant 
in every part, and that it is but a full representation of his 
heart. 



Helped by the Holy Spirit, 

I WILL, 
This day, 

Turn from all my sins unto God : 

I will trust in Jesus Christ as my Saviour : 

I will confess and follow Him : 

And this I do freely, fully and forever. 

Name : - 

Address 

Church Preference 



and Bible Study. 39 



A GENERAL CONSECRATION COVENANT FOR 
CHRISTIANS. 

TT T E must not aim at generalities, but be pointed and per- 
1 T sistent in our work of getting Christians to give their 
all to God. The following " Covenant " neatly printed on 
thin paper, that it maybe kept in the Bible, will serve to focus 
the mind of the individual, and thereby aid in securing their 
full consecration to God and his service. NEVER let any 
printed form become more than a ?neans. If the end is simply 
reading the slip and signing it, then 'twere better to not use 
it at all. Upon the leader of the meeting, to a large degree, 
depends the usefulness or uselessness of all such methods. 



Consecration Covenants 

IN the remembrance of the manifold mercies of God, 
The need and power of a holy life, 

The claims of God our Saviour, 

The strivings of the Holy Ghost, 
and the knowledge that soon I must pass to stand before God, 
to be judged for the deeds done in the body, whether good or 
evil : 

I do now solemnly dedicate myself to God in holy consecra- 
tion, praying the Holy Spirit to sanctify my body, soul, and 
spirit, that my entire life may show forth " Holiness unto the 
Lord." 



{Name.) 

TRY SOME OF THESE. 



A SUNDAY-NIGHT service for men only, with a talk on 
any of the following subjects : 
Daniel — the man of character. 
Joseph— the man tried by fire. 
Christ— his pointed words to men. 
Sowing wheat or wild oats. 
Get out tickets for the service, and widely distribute. 
A meeting for girls only, between the ages of fourteen and 
thirty, with a talk on " Christless or Christlike girlhood — 
which." 

A meeting for boys only, between the ages of twelve and 
seventeen. Give them a plain talk on sin and salvation. 



LEADERSHIP. 

EVERYTHING depends on leadership. Napoleon well 
understood this when he said he would rather have an 
army of asses with a lion for a leader, than an army of lions 
with an ass for a leader. 

Get a good leader, then obey the following : 

Study him and his methods. 

Be absolutely loyal to both. 

Have faith in him and wait. 

Don't wait for his word, but watch for his glance and obey. 

Study what you can do for him, and then do it. 

This would revolutionize half the churches in the land. 



HOW TO WIN MEN. 

THERE is never a more interesting story than that which 
a man tells about himself. Virgil, the poet, makes 
iEneas tell his own story, and makes him begin it by saying, 
" In which I also had a great part myself." So if you would 
interest your friends, tell them what you felt yourself. Tell 
them how you were once a lost, abandoned sinner, how the 
Lord met with you, how you bowed your knees and poured 



40 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

out your soul before God, and how at last you leaped with 
joy, for you thought you heard him say within you, k * I, even 
I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions tor my name's 
sake." 1 



A COVENANT SERVICE. 

THE following five " Covenants 11 to be solemnly taken by 
JL all who will : 

ist. I do here and now solemnly renew my vows to turn 
from all my sins unto God. I do heartily repent of 
every sin of omission and commission, beseeching the 
God of mercy to forgive all neglect and transgression, 
for Jesus' sake. 

2d. I do here and now affirm my faith in Jesus Christ, God's 
only-begotten Son, as my personal, present, and eternal 
Saviour, relying upon him and the merits of his aton- 
ing blood to save me from my sins and the consequences 
thereof. 

3d. I do here and now covenant, by the aid of the Holy 
Spirit, my Comforter and Guide, to keep the command- 
ments of God, and to love him with all my heart, and 
my neighbor as myself. 

4th. I do here and now engage to do all within my power, 
by life, word, work, and example, to turn sinners from 
their sins unto the cross for salvation. 

5th. This covenant I make in the fear of God, asking him, 
for the sake of his Son, to endue me with the power of 
the Spirit, that I may perform these holy vows. 

Name, 









"SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES" 



Bible Study. 



u 



Mere all tbe seas one cbrpsolite, 

Ube eartb a aoifcen ball, 
Hub Mamonfcs all tbe stars of ntgbt, 

Ibis Boob were wortb tbem all/' 



42 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 



HOW SWEET THEY ARE! 

I WAS looking up the figure in the Old Testament which 
gave the ''Anointing for Service,'" the same as in the 
New Testament when one is baptized with the Holy Ghost. 
I found it in Exodus, thirteenth chapter. Myrrh, sweet cin- 
namon, sweet calamus, cassia, and olive oil were made by the 
perfumer into an ointment, and this precious compound was 
poured over those who were to serve. My, but how sweet 
those men must have been ! I see one coming down the street. 
He meets you, stops for a greeting, and is gone ; but the very 
air is scented with the fragrant perfume of his anointing. 
You could shut your eyes and tell when one was near. I guess 
that is the kind of people God wants now. None were to serve 
unless anointed. So should we be. Let the " anointing " be 
ours, and what perfume will go forth from our lives ! Our 
very presence will tell saint and sinner we serve in holy 
things. There never was a perfume made like that in Gala- 
tians v. 22 and 23. Such oil poured over us will delight every 
soul we ever meet. 



DANCINC, THEATRES, AND CARD PLAYING. 

I'D rather have the force of the following four chapters to 
straighten out the worldly Christians than all the sermons 
ever preached or books ever written on the subject : 
Romans xii. lk Consecration chapter." 
John xv. " Abiding chapter." 
2 Corinthians vi. ki Separation chapter." 
Romans xiv. " Judgment chapter." 



LOVE FOR BIBLE READING. 

JUST a word to you who don't love to read the Bible, and I 
am writing to thousands now. Give the following a trial, 
and if you don't change your mind after doing it, you had 
better see the doctor quick, for " trouble in the head." 

God likens us all to sheep : and Jesus is called the Lamb of 
God. Take the Book, hold it closed in your lap for five min- 
utes, in some nook of the home, where all is quiet, that you 
may draw in your thoughts from all else, and centre them on 
this theme ; then remember there are just three great " Shep- 
herd" chapters in the Bible: John x.,Ezekiel xxxiv., and 
Psalm xxiii. Read them in the order I have named, and you 
will be enriched with gold from the city four-square. 



THE PALE HORSE AND HIS RIDER-DEATH. 

Revelation vi. 8. 

AFRAID of him ? Never ! Christ has taken the spear in 
his own breast, and there is none for me. Death ! Oh, 
you terror-giving monster, it is only your face that looks ugly! 
Give me your hand ; I'll shake it. Rider, your steed shall 
never find his color in my face. Take me if you will into the 
valley of the shadow of death, but by the mighty power of a 
great promise from a great God I'll show you that our paths 
get brighter as we near the palace door, and though you may 
try to frighten me, there will open on my vision the glories 
of Canaan, and see if I don't harness your horse to my char- 
iot of peace, and make you drive me through the open gate 
and up the streets of gold, with the acclamations of angels and 
archangels and all the redeemed saying, " Here comes another 
sinner ransomed by the Blood." Hell may follow with its 
legions of black devils, but they will stop when the City is 
reached. 



and Bible Study. 43 



SCRIPTURE FOR WOMEN. 

THIS old world would collapse in a year if God took all 
the women out of it. 
It would be a sorry-looking - church we would have, if all the 
Marys, and Hannahs, and Ruths, and Dorcases, and others 
like them, should go to heaven at once. 

I'd just like to know what proportion of the one hundred 
and twenty in the upper room at Pentecost were women. 
Maybe the Spirit concealed the record on purpose. Who were 
last at the Cross and first at the sepulchre ? I don't know 
the power of an angel, but if I had to choose now between 
one of them and a good woman to watch over a boy of mine, 
I'd take the latter. To fit them for their work, the Bible is 
full of special Scripture, suited to their many needs ; like 

The wife's chapter, Proverbs xxxi. ; 

The mother's chapter, Judges xiii. ; 

The household chapter, Colossians iii. ; 

The widow's chapter, Isaiah liv. ; 

The marriage chapter, Ephesians v. ; 

The charity chapter, 1 Corinthians xiii. ; 

The woman's psalm, Psalm xlv. ; 
and hundreds more, found by searching. 



WORK FOR WOMEN OF YEARS. 

THE second chapter of Titus gives, in a concise way, the 
duty of the aged women to girls. Oh, how I wish every 
woman who has reached fifty or more would read what Paul 
writes there by the Holy Ghost, and then fulfil her mission as 
only a woman of experience can ! 

Notice— he says : " They are to be teachers of good things," 
and they are to teach the young women as follows : 

1. To be sober. The girlhood of to-day sadly needs this 
lesson. Sober in thought, in word, and in deed : this lack 
has cursed the close of this century. A thoughtless, giddy 
girlhood makes a senseless womanhood. 

2. To love their husbands and children. This lesson un- 
taught has brought the harvest of divorces and club-houses, 
saloons supported, and made other worse places to abound. 

3. To be discreet. Here is where the snowflake begins its 
fall from heaven to hell. " Indiscretion" is the first step in 
the ladder whose bottom rung is the pit of perdition. 

4. To be chaste and keepers at home. When I see the girls 
out at night, on crowded streets alone, amidst an unchaste 
crowd, I well know the final outcome of that will be death to 
virtue of mind, or body, or soul, or maybe all. 

5. To be good. Girls are like colts ; they need to be taught 
how to go, taught how to be good. 

Good grandmothers are made out of good mothers, and 
good mothers out of good wives, and good wives out of good 
women, and good women out of good girls, and good girls 
out of good babies, and good babies out of good parents, and 
good parents out of good characters, and good characters out 
of good principles, and good principles out of the Good Book. 



THE WIFE'S CHAPTER. 
Proverbs XXXI. 

HERE we get a chapter for the brides— that have been, are, 
and those who expect to be. 
No girl should ever get married till this chapter out of the 
Book of Wisdom is fully written on her heart. 

It's written by a woman ; no one else could have well given 
it. Oh ! I well know it comes from King Lemuel, but he was 
only an amanuensis. The first verse does not close till it tells 
how his mother taught him these things. It takes a woman 
to pen such words. 



44 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

No position in this old world is bigger than motherhood, 
and to get that, there must first be wifehood, which precedes 
the other as naturally and necessarily as root, trunk, and 
branch precede blossom and fruit. 

Architects, carpenters, and builders can make houses, but 
it takes a wife to make a home ; and it takes a heap of heaven 
to make a good wife. 

A ma*n, a real man, I mean a genuine man, won't marry a 
butterfly ! He wants a heart comforter, a head soother, and 
a home maker. 

At the next young men's mass meeting I hold, Fm going to 
advise the marriageable portion to get a photograph of this 
chapter, then look up its counterpart, and see a clergyman 
quick. 



THE SEVEN PENITENTIAL PSALMS. 

ABOUT one hundred out of every five-score of folks need 
often to read one or more of the seven Penitential 
Psalms. 

Life and its surroundings form such good helps to sin that 
unless grace possesses our soul in mighty obedience, we many 
times do the wrong, and need to give the penitent's cry, " Have 
mercy upon me, O Lord ! " 

There are some people who will never in this life rise above 
the level of a disordered temper and a sad and sorrowful and 
sinful spirit. They may catch a glimpse of Calvary, see 
enough of the Saviour to save them, but it's a salvation for 
another world rather than this. Poor hearts, I pity them, and 
they need pity — yes, and they need more. So God in his 
infinite goodness has set seven psalms apart for them. 

They are Psalms vi., xxxii., xxxviii.,li.,cii., cxxx.,and cxliii. 
These are known as the Penitential Psalms, and, read con- 
secutively, will do for darkened souls what light does for dark- 
ness wherever found. I'm not sure, however, but what the 
biggest saint yet in the body enjoys these psalms as much, if 
not more, than the others. 

Dear reader, make a memorandum of their numbers, and 
next Lord's Day read them all. It would only take a few 
moments to fix them in your mind. Suppose you now repeat 
a half dozen times : 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. 



NOTES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. 

KEY word— Son of Man ; Luke was a physician ; he 
wrote the book of Acts— the Early Church historian ; 
fellow-traveller with Paul ; book of parables— twenty-five 
out of the fifty-two named ; written for one man— Theophi- 
lus ; has the largest chapter in the New Testament ; has 
twenty-four chapters, 1,511 verses ; the first chapter has 
seventy of the great Gospel words of the Bible ; each chapter 
has at least three great facts. The chapters are as follows : 

1— Song chapter ; 2— Nativity chapter ; 3— John the Bap- 
tist chapter; 4 — Conqueror's chapter; 5 — Fishermen's chap- 
ter ; 6— Teacher's chapter ; 7— Life chapter ; 8— Sower's 
chapter ; 9— Marvellous chapter ; 10— Service chapter ; n — 
Knowledge chapter; 12— Professor's chapter; 13— Repent- 
ance chapter; 14 — Poor Man's chapter; 15 — Lost and 
Found; 16 — Rich Man's chapter; 17— chapter of Con- 
trasts; 18 — Humility chapter; 19 — Sinners' chapter; 20 — 
Question chapter ; 21— Watchers' chapter ; 22— Sad chapter ; 
23 — Redemption chapter ; 24 — Victorious chapter. 

Great things named in this Gospel not found in the other 
three : Angels announce the birth of Christ ; widow of Nain 
and her son ; Christ anointed by the sinner at Capernaum ; 
Parable of Fig Tree ; the Seventy sent out and their return ; 
the ten lepers ; Parable of the Good Samaritan ; Parable of 
Prodigal Son ; Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus j Parable 
of Importunate Widow ; Jesus before Herod. 



and Bible Study. 45 



GREAT BIBLE FACTS-IN LUKE'S COSPEL. 

CHRIST'S first sermon was, from the human side, a great 
failure. They all got mad and tried to kill him. Chapter 
iv. 28-29. 

Luke iv. 32-40 explains John xiv. 12, and if we believed God 
truly, it would be so now as told in 1 Cor. xii. 

Peter, James, and John, the fishermen, left all to follow 
Jesus immediately after the biggest catch they ever had. 
Chapter v. 7-11. 

Let every man go after one man, as did the four in Luke v. 
18-26, and he will be saved as surely as that man. 

So great was the preaching of Christ that it drew men hun- 
dreds of miles to hear him, and bad men, too— even those 
vexed with unclean spirits. 

The last thing that Jesus ever did for his disciples was to 
lead and bless them. Luke xxiv. 50. 

The first sermon Christ ever preached to his disciples began, 
" Blessed be ye." 

The devil overreached himself in Luke xv. 2. If hell could 
blot that out, it would be done quick. There are three lost 
things in Luke xv. — lost sheep, lost money, lost son, but all 
were found. 

One poor beggar blessed by God set the whole city of 
Jericho praising the Lord. Luke xvii. 45. 



A GOOD PROOF. 

TUST try it." 
J cl Try what?" 

Why, reading Beale or Bacon, Spenser or Shakspeare, to a 
poor lost soul in sin, for the purpose of lifting him out of the 
sloughs of despond, or the darkness of despair. You who 
put so much dependence on scholasticism and scholarship, 
just try a bit of it on some w r ayward boy or fallen girl. You 
will read till you are blind, and they will be no better ; but 
now try something else. Take the old Bible, and go to any 
place or any one you please— for Light doesn't quarrel with the 
quality of darkness it has to deal with — open up first at the 
Safety Psalm, the ninety-first, then take Luke fifteen, and you 
won't have gotten to the third parable, before your hearer 
will feel a mighty tug at his soul, and if you will keep right 
on, the powder of the Word of God will lift that one higher 
than an angel — to be a child of God. 

How I would like to get ten thousand preachers next Sab- 
bath to throw away, for once at least, their well spun sermons, 
and go in their pulpits, after a week of prayer, open up the 
Scriptures to 1 Peter i. 23, and from there to the end of the 
chapter, begin to expound and preach. 

Peter's experience at Pentecost would soon be repeated. 

That memorable sermon that got three thousand converts 
was nearly all w T ords of God, not words or thoughts of Peter. 






THE CONVERTS' CHAPTER. 

ISAIAH XII. 



HERE we get the one great chapter for Converts. In all 
the Bible there is no portion of Scripture so good, so 
fitting, so just to the point, for one who has lately been born 
into the kingdom of God, as the twelfth of Isaiah. 

The only way to get into this old w T orld is to be born into 
it ; and so the only way to get into the family of God is to be 
born into it : and we are never born, in either case, full-fledged 
men and women, but babes— wee, tiny, little bits of babes, 
who need milk and not meat. Now, some Scripture would 
be poison, or death, to these. So we must rightly divide the 
word of truth unto them, keeping them away from things not 
easily understood. If I know aught about it, the kitchen is 



46 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

no secondary place in a home, and from it go gruel, crackers, 
toast, and tea to the sick-room ; light foods to the nursery ; 
and the solids for the big folks. That's the way to plan in 
the household of faith. 

Here is the children's portion ; after giving the chapter 
named at the head, we then read and study : 



John xv., 



1 Peter ii. 
Proverbs iii., 
Ephesians iii., 
Psalm xviii., 
Psalm xxxii., 
Psalm xci., . 
Job xxix., 
Hebrews xi., 
James ii., 
Ephesians vi., 



The Abiding Chapter. 
The Christian Chapter. 
The Wisdom Chapter. 
The Bottomless Chapter. 
The Deliverance Psalm. 
The Instruction Psalm. 
The Safety Psalm. 
The Character Chapter. 
The Faith Chapter. 
The Work Chapter. 
The Soldier's Chapter. 



Also other Scriptures of the same character, such as Matt. 
v.,vi, and vii., Exodus xx., Isaiah xli., and the books of Philip- 
pians, John, Nehemiah, and Colossians. After these can come 
Luke, Acts, etc. 



BIBLE GLEANINCS- 

BIBLE Gleanings. Isaiah xlii. 16 was written to help 
men in the dark. 
Deut. xxviii. 7 is for sorely tempted hearts. 
Matt. vii. 7 is the triple triumphant promise of the Bible. 
Isaiah xli. 10 is a prop for weak backs. 
John xv. 7 gives the conditions for answered prayer. 
Phil. iv. 19 is the mighty promise of the Bible. 
Haggai ii. 8 was given for those who must raise money. 
Rev. xxi. 7 makes poor men rich, and rich men richer. 
John v. 24 is the sinner's security for salvation. 
Acts i. 8 was written to shake the world. 
Luke xix. 10 is the Gospel in one verse. 
Lev. xvii. n is the centre of all theology. 
Psa. i. 3 is especially for young- men. 
Rev. xxii. 17 gives the trumpet-call of the whole Bible. 



THE BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS. 

DEAR reader, sit down and give this letter of Paul a 
good readings It is full of such helpful things, and is 
one of his best. There can be no finer reading than the 
second and third chapters. Then to search out the different 
characters of whom he writes, and about whom he writes, is 
a sweetness peculiar to this work. 

What a verse of contrasts is the twelfth of the fourth chap- 
ter ! I think maybe this bit of Scripture gives us an insight 
into the " ups and downs 11 of life as much as any to be found 
anywhere. Piety does not insure one from want, but thank 
God it does assure them in want, and the nineteenth verse 
follows like a harvest of plenty after years of famine. 

For my readers who suffer in bodies filled with aches and 
pains, and they are not a few, I would direct their attention 
to the last verse of chapter three. A hallelujah will follow. 

Discouraged Christians should dwell much on the sixth 
verse of the opening chapter. Such truth is like bread to the 
starving-. 

I meet some folk who think it wrong to long for death. I 
don't know how they would expound the twenty-third verse 
of chapter one. 

Now and then some big, noted infidel visits a town, and the 
crowd pours out to hear him, and the good hold their heads 
low and sigh. Look up ! Look up ! Verses ten and eleven of 
chapter two will as surely come true as that two parallel lines 
never meet. If you could get the depth of meaning in verses 



and Bible Study. 47 

five and six of the last chapter, there would be no more worry- 
in your life, and a life without worry is more than gold or 
silver. 

Churches as well as individuals have their characteristics, 
and this Philippian church was known for its liberality. No 
church in all Macedonia contributed for Paul's expenses like 
it. Some churches are liberal and some stingy— what kind is 
yours ? 

ISAIAH LIN. 

DEAR reader, let me help you. Not by any brilliant 
article or by any wit or human wisdom, but by the 
word of God. Promise yourself and the Lord Jesus that you 
will set aside five minutes in each one of the next twelve 
days, and that time you will give to meditation on Isaiah, 
chapter fifty-three, a verse a day. There are but twelve 
verses, but no consecutive twelve verses are like them in all 
the Bible. After you have learned them by heart, read the 
two other atonement chapters which go with this one : He- 
brews ix., and Leviticus xvi. Once you possess the truth of 
these three, and God can, and will, if you will let Him, use 
you for His glory tenfold more than now. Acquire this ad- 
ditional capital, and, well invested, your returns will be better 
than that from stocks or bonds. 



MAKE THEM DO IT. 

MAKE every theological student and Christian worker 
commit to memory the following : 

The Sermon on the Mount. 

Psalm xci. 

John xiv. and xv., and 

Paul's great resurrection chapter, 1 Cor. xv. 

Here is a nugget of gold from Spurgeon's mines, too good 
to be lost : 

"When a man gets to cutting down sin. paring down de- 
pravity, and making little of future punishment, let him no 
longer preach to you. Some modern divines whittle away 
the Gospel to the small end of nothing. They make our 
Divine Lord to be a sort of blessed nobody. When you see 
a preacher making the Gospel small by degrees and miserably 
less, till there is not enough left of it to make soup for a sick 
grasshopper, get you gone. As for me, I believe in the colos- 
sal—a need as deep as hell, and grace as high as heaven. I 
believe in a pit that is bottomless, and a heaven that is top- 
less."" 

GOD'S SUPPLY. 

THERE are so many lean Christians, thin, frail, weak, and 
powerless, that it will not be amiss to slip in seven of the 
" Abundants" found in the Bible, that they may feed thereon 
and grow fat. 

Please don't pass them on to your neighbor ; it may be a 
spiritual looking-glass might reveal many needs of your own. 

Abundant mercy, 1 Peter i. 3. 

Abundant grace, 2 Cor. iv. 15. 

Abundant consolation, 2 Cor. i. 5. 

Abundant joy, 2 Cor. viii. 2. 

Abundant pardon, Isaiah lv. 7. 

Abundant peace, Psa. xxxvii. ix. 

Abundant entrance, 2 Peter i. n. 



THE POWER OF LOVE. 

TAKE your Bible and turn to the close of two great chap- 
ters, Romans viii. and Ephesians iii. ; read slowly and 
with deep meditation : now turn to First Corinthians, chap- 
ter xiii., and read the whole, only substitute love for the word 



48 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

charity, all through. Couple with all this John iii. 16 and 
Jeremiah xxxi. 3. 

Follow all this reading by quiet moments of thought. Let 
no one disturb the silence, and this simple Hible reading will 
be food for you, rich and wholesome and nutritious. 

For lines of thought I would suggest : 

1. The character of love that would give an Only Son. 

2. The love that is willing to give life for enemies. 

3. Love that makes sinners joint heirs with Christ. 

4. Love that changes sour sinners into sweet saints. 

5. Love that is undying, unending, eternal. 



MIGHTY CRACE. 

JUST think of the grace it took to bring a Jew to this point : 
" And all that believed were together and had all things 
common, and sold their possessions and goods and parted 
them to all, as evey man had need." (Acts ii. 44, 45.) A close, 
stingy old Hebrew converted ; now see him, as his gold is 
flowing into the common treasury for others 1 benefit as well 
as his own. Not a little of it given, but all. There is his 
rival in business who couldn't make it go, and came for the 
borrowing of a few shekels one day, and was stoutly refused. 
He has been converted, too, and now a good share of our 
friend's bekahs go to support him and his children. Oh, I tell 
you, it was great grace that did such things for Jews. I 
wonder do we need the same to-day? 



CROWING RICHER. 

44 T CAN'T give up' 1 is the mental answer many young 
X persons give to the question of conscience about serv- 
ing God. The world is so fair to them, the pleasures are so 
many, and the promises so big, that they hesitate. The words 
of Mary Atkinson with a double meaning might well swing 
a faltering spirit into the narrow path : 

As we climb heaven's stairway, we need not grieve 
For the fine carved work of the step we leave ; 
For brighter than all which has gone before 
Is the near approach of the Palace Door. 



WHAT JESUS IS TO ME. 

NO poetry can give in better words or thought what Jesus 
is to me than the following verses, which were arranged 
by the late C. H. Spurgeon. I make a place for them here, 
dear reader, that you may open your Bible and copy these 
lines on a fly leaf and sign your name underneath : 

What the hand is to the lute, 
What the breath is to the flute, 
What is fragrance to the smell, 
What the spring is to the well, 
What the flower is to the bee, 
That is Jesus Christ to me. 

What's the mother to the child, 
What the guide in pathless wild, 
What is oil to troubled wave, 
What is ransom to a slave, 
What is water to the sea, 
That is Jesus Christ to me. 



and Bible Study. 49 



MEET THE CONDITIONS. 

THERE are hosts of religious grumblers who growl be- 
cause they do not get from God what other folks do. If 
they would stop sputtering and go to thinking, soon they 
would be enriched. The fact is, God's blessings and gifts 
are conditional, always. There is no use praying for pure 
air in a sewer. Get out of the ditch. When God says, " I 
will send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee 
out of Zion," the best thing for able people to do is to go to 
church. 

Take salvation : you would be surprised at the number of 
men and women, of good sense, too, who for years have been 
crying unto God to save them. There has not been a moment 
since they were old enough to sin, but God wanted to do this. 
There is no need of crying long days and nights unto God for 
what He is waiting to bestow. Any who will receive Jesus 
Christ as their Lord and Master, will get salvation by getting 
Him. 

So with love, joy, and peace, let one receive the Holy Spirit 
by faith, and in the life He comes, and the fruit of His abiding 
presence and power is love, joy, and peace. 

Meet the conditions, and every promise may be fulfilled in 
your life, dear readers. Try it. 



GRUMBLERS. 

SOME members of the church live on Grumble Avenue, 
hard by Discontent Street. They dump their moral (?) 
ashes in the street, never wash the sidewalk or paint the front 
door. Take it altogether, they are a poor, miserable lot. Many 
die early and are buried in unmarked graves. They seldom 
leave any money, but when one does it is willed away to the 
"Society for Fault Finding," that spares no pains to invest 
it to the best advantage. Now and then members of this 
society get on the committees and in the boards of direction. 
We need some machinery whereby these can be ground up 
and baked over, or melted down and molded over into men 
of praise, whose dwellings shall be on Thanksgiving Street, 
close by Avenue Content. 



TO SECURE HELPFUL BIBLE READINC. 

MANY read the Bible without profit or pleasure. They are 
like those who hastily swallow food, getting no pleasure 
out of the sense of taste, a Heaven- born gift, and afterward 
suffer much from dyspepsia. Many Christians thus partake 
of the word of God, which is the bread of life. Young con- 
verts, like young children, must be taught. Let the following 
be put on the blackboard, or printed on a card, that the eye, 
as well as the ear, may catch the truth. 



25 OUT OF 1440. 

There are fourteen hundred and forty minutes in every 
day ; out of these I promise God and myself to give, at 
least, 

Ten minutes to reading the Bible, 

Ten minutes for meditation on what I have read, and 

Five minutes for prayer. 



50 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, and Bible Study. 



TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY. 

W. D. LONGSTAFF. 

11 Be ye holy : for I am the Lord your God."— Lev. xx. 7. 



1. Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord, 
Abide in Him always, and feed on His word ; 
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak, 
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek. 



2. Take time to be holy — the world rushes on, 
Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone ; 
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be, 
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see. 



Take time to be holy, let Him be thy guide, 
And run not before Him whatever betide ; 
In joy or in sorrow, still follow thy Lord, 
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His word. 



Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul, 
Each thought and each motive beneath His control 
Thus, led by His Spirit to fountains of love, 
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above. 



Inspirational 
Lectures. 



52 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 



Inspirational Lectures. — No. i. 

THEME : 

CHRISTIAN WORK AND WORKERS. 

The design of this lecture is to give the fundamental facts 
which underlie all Christian service. 

The reason so many " workers " fall out by the wayside, or 
cease to be effective, is because they get no adequate concep- 
tion of the duty and service belonging to the Christian life. 
They build on sand instead of rock, and when the storm of 
test and trial comes, they go down, and great is their fall. 

This lecture considers three things: 
1st. THE WORK. 

a. It must be understood: 

A clear conception of Christ's mission ; 

A knowledge and feeling of " a lost world ; " 

Relations we bear to local and foreign fields. 

b. It must be undertaken : 

The magnitude of the work— known ; 
Our allotment and personal responsibility; 
Connectional interests, "mob or army." 

c. It must be continued : 

The " Try and give up " people ; 
The " Try and try again " folk ; 
The "Persistent" worker. 

2d. THE WORKER. 

a. Must be willing : 

Willingness, not ability, the first consideration ; 
The relation of "willingness 11 to God ; 

Gifts unto willing people from | j^nkmd. 1 ^* 

b. Must be teachable : 

Additional equipment gained ; 
Correct evolution in man and methods. 

c. Must be persistent : 

Cause and effect— need of time; 
The " Immediatelys " of God ; 
The "Waits "of God. 

3d. THE LORD OF THE HARVEST. 

a. He takes all responsibility when we do our best : 

Incorrect and correct views of responsibility. 

b. He provides necessary means and all power : 

The presence, promise, and power of Jesus. 

c. He rewards all faithful workers ; 

Study the " I know thy works " of Revelation. 



and Bible Study. 53 



Inspirational Lectures. — No. 2. 

THEME : 

THE KIND OF CHRISTIANS DESIRED. 

1st, By the Lord of the Harvest; 2d, By people for 
whom Christ died. 
In a word, they are 

Need-Meeters. 

My Christian friend, you will be wanted by the world if 
you are a need-meeter. Rather a queer name, but so appro- 
priate. 

In Phil. iv. 19 it is written, " My God shall supply all your 
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.'" 

The difference between " welcome " and "unwelcome" 
Christians. 

Hungry folks like those who give food ; they hate and re- 
ject those who furnish serpents and stones. 

Now, as a Christian, you are God's servant and ambassa- 
dor ; and to the poor and needy you are to go with this mes- 
sage, that if they will meet the conditions laid down by God, 
of seeking first the kingdom of heaven, their needs are to be 
met ; whether of mind, body, or soul. 

The three kinds of people : 

1. The Rich. 

They need James v. 1-6. They need 1 Tim. vi. 17-19. 
"Warning." 

2. The Self -Supporter. 

1 Tim. vi. 8-10. " Warning and winning." 

3. The Poor. 

They need Matt. vi. 33 and James ii. 15-16. 
"Winning." 

Note the grades in each class, and deal with them accord- 
ingly. 

Note Christ's method of dealing with these classes. 

The rich ruler. Simon and the feast, Publican in prayer, 
woman in adultery. 

Jesus was such. 

The poor received Him gladly. 

Some rejected Him. 

Note the reason why : — 

" Good things not always pleasant." 

This you are to believe and practically ilhistrate. 

Any Christian worker that presents only salvation to the 
soul of a worthy hungry man, dishonors God. You are to 
meet his every need by the power of the Gospel. Don't give 
him money ; give him meat. If you can't do it. find some one 
who can ; then help him get work ; help him to help him- 
self. 

Don't you dare to always be using the microscope to find 
the motive of a sinner's seeking God. I challenge you to dis- 
prove this fact : that two-thirds of the reason for the return 
of the prodigal son in Luke xv. was because he was hungry 
and wanted some good food. Jacob's wrestling prayer was 
largely induced by the knowledge of the coming of Esau 
with four hundred men. He had foully cheated him of a 
birthright, by a mess of pottage. 

The church can take care of the worthy poor. God has 
given her membership enough for this ; so we must be need- 
meeters. Give yourself, and get others to give. 



54 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 



SOME DEAL-OUTS. 

Deal out courage to the faint-hearted ; 

Deal out love to the sad and sinful ; 

Deal out comfort to the sorrowing- ; 

Deal out money where it will be a blessing ; 

Deal out fatherhood to the fatherless ; 

Deal out kindness to the down-trodden ; 

Deal out sympathy to the unfortunate ; 

Deal out reproof to the ungodly ; 

Deal out food to the hungry ; 

Deal out hospitality to the homeless ; 

Deal out advice to the ignorant • 

Deal out wisdom to the foolish ; 

Deal out help to the helpless ; 

Deal out salvation to all mankind. 

Do not excuse yourself because you may not have any or 
much of the above. Get ! Get fro7n God, quickly, and scatter 
with lavish hand. 

The constant growth of a " Need-Meeter " is towards 
unselfishness. 

It is this class who have fulfilled to them, Proverbs xi. | 
24 and 25. 

Inspirational Lectures. — No. 3. 

THEME : 

INSPIRED LEADERS. 

Text. — " Truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, 
and of judgment, and of might."— Micah iii. 8. 

Object of the lecture is : 
ist, To explain why some leaders are effective and seme 

not; 
2d, To give the results of inspiration ; 
3d, To give the sources of inspiration. 

Success or failure is due almost without exception to the 
leader. This has always been so, is now, and ever will be. 
Great things are brought to pass, not by a committee of means, 
but by a man of means. 

Examples: Nelson, Wellington, Bismarck, Washington, 
Grant, Wesley, Luther, Stokes, etc. 

People who are inspired " bring things to pass," because, 

ist, They bring and give Life ; 

2d, They accomplish the purpose of God. 
Examples : Noah, Moses, Elijah, Samson, Peter. 

Such leaders are effective, because, 
ist, They, their persons, are inspired : 
2d, Their plans are inspired by themselves. Note— Good 

plans uninspired do not succeed. 
3d, Their supporters are inspired — Napoleon's way of 

doubling his army. 

The results of inspiration are seen : 

In the leader, by his manner of voice, gesture, and general 
character. He is a constant source of help to all his environ- 
ment ; sometimes of reproof, often rebuke, always love. 

He will make a good meeting ; 

He will inspire his theme, and 

His theme and he will inspire his hearers. 

There will always be results from an inspired leader. 

Note— Inspiration does not always show the same in differ- 
ent persons. Study closely the "Gift Chapter," 1 Cor. xii. 

There is inspired quietness— " The glory of the heavens." 
tv Shine. 1 ' 

There is inspired prose— Rugged men and their truth. 

There is inspired poetry— Silver-tongued speakers. 

There is inspired noise— singing— u Holy disorder." 

There are inspired tornado-like men — " Men on fire." 

There are inspired mountain-like men— Great characters. 



Christian work is - 



and Bible Study. 55 

The Sources of Inspiration are: 

\st, The Spirit of God. 
Joel ii. and Acts ii. 
Acts i. 8. 

2*/, The work itself. 

' i, A holy work— work of God and 

for God. 
2, Eternal in its results, for weal, 

not woe. 
^3, Its immediate results for good. 

3«£, The theme or occasion. 

Inspirational themes— The Gospel. 
Inspirational occasions — Where you may present 
Jesus. 

4^, Aspiration and consecration. 

Aspire to please God. 
Human "well done's." 

Exhortation— Are you a leader ? 

Are you an inspired leader, unto yourself ? 
Are you an inspirational leader, unto others ? 



Inspirational Lectures. — No. 4. 

THEME : 

MANNER-* LIFE." 

When in the manner of the leader, and conduct of the service, 
there is shown life, revealing God, making the hearts of the 
people assembled to burn with delight or to weep over their 
sins and shortcomings, then will there be "good success 1 ' in 
every way. 

The following manner should possess leader, and those led : 

Joyful: 

1. Faith and love and joy show on the face and come out in 

gesture and song. 

2. Produced by God's fulfilled promises then and there. 

" The presence of God." 

3. This " lifts men up " where they can get a footing on the 

"Rock of Ages." 

4. It is an index, telling what is to come. " Expectation." 

Helpful: 

1. No trouble to get people to a " help-full " service. 

2. This kind of advertising brings the crowd. 

3. This kind glorifies God : the opposite dishonors Him. 

4. " Helpful manner," " Helpful man," " Helpful meeting." 

Solemn : 

1. Absence of levity. 

2. Fulness of worship. 

3. Sorrow for sins. 

4. Reverence for Deity. 

Pointed : 

1. Look as though you were there for something. 

2. Act as though you expected something to happen. 

3. Plan so as to righteously expect success. 

4. Let everything— looks, gestures, Scripture, prayers, songs, 

and all tell. 

Where a meeting partakes of the above manners, there the 
two following blessings will be found : 1. The people will be 
there ; 2. God will be there to bless them. These two things 
brought to pass, and "the wilderness and the solitary place 
shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom 



56 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with 
joy and singing - .' 1 

There is much in the way a leader comes in and takes his 
seat ; much more in the way he acts after he has taken it ; 
still more in the way he "opens " the service ; and yet still 
more in the way he carries it on to the close. I take it that 
Christ and Paul told as much by their manner as by their 
words. They were full of life, and hence what they said par- 
took of the same element. 



Inspirational Lectures. — No. 5. 

THEME : 

MANNER- 'DEATH." 

The manner in which a leader conducts a service deter- 
mines largely the results of the same. 

I name some of the most objectionable : 

Formal: 

1. The same old songs, same old prayers, same opening and 

closing. 

2. No change in the leader's spirit, hence no change in the 

service. 

3. The spirit of God is against formality. 

4. The spirit of the age demands change and life. 

Cold: 

1. If the leader's spirit and manner are cold, the meeting 

will be "chilly." 

2. Cold praying and cold singing and cold speaking pro- 

duce death. 

3. The need of a warm, sympathetic, and spiritual atmos- 

phere. 

4. The heat of a burning zeal and faith needed for the good 

of all. 

Pointless ; 

t. No aim sought, produces coldness and formality. 

2. A pointless meeting is a blank cartridge. 

3. Is shown by the leader's disjointed methods and use of 

means. 

4. Made pointless by needless and sinful repetition. 

Deathlike : 

1. Note the deathlike singing of hymn— Poe's " Raven." 

2. Note the deathlike actions of the leader. 

3. Note the deathlike inertia of the congregation. 

4. Note the deathlike results of such manners. 

Cost what it may to sensibilities, get out and keep out of the 
above-named manners in the conduct of meetings of all kinds. 

II Thou hast a name to live, and art dead," is apt Scripture 
for thousands of services, which by their objectionable man- 
ners have been killed— murdered, I would say. 

Many will say, " But how can we get out?" There are 
two ways : 

ist, By the Leader. Let him " get out of ruts" before he 
gets in the meeting ; then with a holy boldness pull the meet- 
ing out. Some will get angry, but that won't hurt. 

2d, By those in the service. Some one, or a few banded to- 
gether for the purpose, upset the leader's cold plans by sud- 
den surprises of good things, with life thrown in. It may 
mean revolution, but this, too, is not bad under the circum- 
stances. 



and Bible Study. 57 

Inspirational Lectures. — No. 6. 

THEME : 

HOW TO MAKE POOR SPEAKERS OVER INTO 
GOOD ONES. 

As a rule, as one speaks in a service, he will be helpful and 
effective, or not. Many poor speakers take part in meetings 
who could, if they followed a few simple rules, become most 
desirable persons for that service. 

Consider the following : 

1. Your manner. 

2. Your voice. 

3. Your face. 

4. Your message. 

5. Your object. 

As to manner : let it be earnest and natural ; don't permic 
yourself to be stiff or formal. Be careful how you sit in your 
chair ; don't cross your legs, or tip your chair, or be rude in 
this respect. Don't wear such clothes as will make you 
conscious of them. Let your gestures be born of the occa- 
sion, and fitting. You don't want to invite sinners to Christ 
with your fist doubled up. Some can talk best standing 
perfectly still : others must move about. Some do too much 
of both. Strike a happy medium. Let this be the rule — 
To show your whole being is in what you say— body, soul, 
and spirit. 

As to your voice : here is where so many fail ; they put no 
sympathy in it. There is either a snarl or bite in it, or a 
monotone, which is almost as bad. Some yell, others speak 
too low. Here are some guides for you : 

Speak to the largest number ; that is, turn your face that 
way. 

Speak so they can hear. 

Speak so they will know you mean it, by the tone of your 
voice. 

Speak often slowly, then fast. If you want to enforce 
great points with a high pitch, do so, but be sure to fall again 
to the usual tone when through with that point. 

Cultivate " soft words ; " they turn away much wrath. 

And your face must be the living picture of your message ; 
facial expression has as much to do with the effect of a 
message as the message itself. Don't hesitate to show your 
feelings. It is not the eye that sees, but the soul that comes 
to the eye and looks out. Be sure they see your soul. 

As to the message : that means you have something to say ; 
for of all bad things, the worst is to hear one talk and say 
nothing. " Be sure you have something to say, and say it ; " 
say it with vim. Never weaken it with apologies ; plunge 
right in, and when through, quit. Dress it up so that they 
will catch the first expressions ; weave in illustrations to 
make it plain. Be fresh in what you give, and in giving it. 
Know this : God will just as surely bless you beforehand in 
getting- your message ready, as He will bless you at the mo- 
ment of delivery. Get something in you before you attempt 
to give anything out. 

People quickly discern whether you have anything worth 
listening to, and if you have they will always give you ear. 
Woe betide the man who, by past experiences, makes his 
hearers frown when he rises to speak. Ifs awfully hard to 
listen to nothing / Don't serve out that kind of matter. 

The object of your speaking will aid you much, if it is well 
defined in your own mind ; then other things will fall largely 
into line ; but if you have no object, or an unworthy one, it 
will be very hard, almost useless, to try to speak with effect. 



58 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

Inspirational Lectures. — No. 7. 

THEME : 

THE BOOK OF ACTS. 
God's Hand-book on Revivals. 

The book was written by Luke, Paul's companion. He was 
a physician. 

The key words are " The Name of Jesus." 

The second chapter of Joel, and the second chapter of 
Acts, lived out, will surely bring a revival. 

It is preeminently the book of the " Holy Ghost." 

Note three thing's in the whole book : 

1st, The number of prayer meetings, 

2d, The number of converts, 

2d, The number of people who got mad. 

The following is a complete list of the twenty-eight chap- 
ters : 



1. Ascension chapter, 

2. Pentecost chapter, 

3. Lame Man's chapter, 

4. John and Peter's chapter, 

5. Ananias and Sapphira's 

chapter, 

6. Deacons' chapter, 

7. Stephen's chapter, 

8. Philip's and Eunuch's 

chapter, 

9. Saul of Tarsus' chapter, 

10. Cornelius' chapter, 

11. Gentile chapter, 

12. Herod's chapter, 

13. Antioch chapter, 

14. Lystra chapter, 



15. Circumcision chapter, 

16. Macedonian chapter, 

17. Athenian chapter, 

18. Corinthian chapter, 

19. Ephesian chapter. 

20. Farewell Message chap- 

ter. 

21. Paul's Arrest chapter, 

22. Paul's Defence chapter, 

23. Prison chapter, 

24. Felix' chapter, 

25. Festus' chapter, 

26. Agrippa's chapter, 

27. Shipwreck chapter, 

28. Barbarian and Rome 

chapter. 



Every soul-winner should read this book through once a 
month, if possible, and note : 

On first reading— How the Holy Ghost carried on the work 
of Christ. 

On second reading— How converts were secured. 

On third reading— How all classes of people were reached. 

On fourth reading— How joy and faith and the Holy Ghost 
work together. 

On fifth reading— How different results were had in differ- 
ent places. 

On sixth reading— How suffering and joy went hand in 
hand. 

On seventh reading— How the first eight chapters contrast 
with the last twenty. 

The book of Acts gives the work, the book of Romans gives 
the word, of the preachers. Note : Right work, right word, 
right workers. 

This book teaches, above all else, the need of the power of 
the Holy Ghost upon the worker. 

When reading, read also the epistle which belongs thereto : 
for instance, when you read the Ephesian chapter, read 
also Paul's letter to that church ; or the Macedonian chapter, 
then read Philippians, of course. 

Get the three Missionary Journeys of St. Paul well in mind. 

A good map is essential to a full knowledge of the book. 

Keep in mind that the book covers about thirty years of 
history ; i. e., from a. d. 33 to a. d. 63. It is supposed Paul 
became a martyr in Rome, a. d. 66, iust after his second 
letter to Timothy. Some think it was June, and that he was 
beheaded. 



and Bible Study, 59 

Note the time Paul spent in prison, and that most of his 
epistles were written there. Maybe, if he had been free all 
the while, he would have gone right on preaching, and never 
have written at all. A strange Providence often shuts men 
up to do their best work, like John Bunyan in Bedford jail, or 
Milton in his blindness. 

The eleventh chapter of Second Corinthians gives a picture 
of Paul in his troubles. It is the epitomization of all his 
agony ; with a hint of another " thorn " in the next chapter. 

Note always that it is the book of the ACTS of the Apos- 
tles, not the Resolutions of the Apostles. They did some- 
thing. It is a book of " doings," over against " sayings." 



Inspirational Lectures. — No. 8. 

THEME: 

"SUGGESTIONS FOR WORKERS." 

• The worst dead thing is a dead religious meeting. I beg 
of you, if there is such in your neighborhood, do one of two 
things quickly — either bury it or resurrect it. The latter is 
by far the better, as resurrection means life, and life is of 
God. Leave out the question of propriety altogether; with 
good common sense, use any method that will stir the meet- 
ing to real activity. Wayland says, "Propriety is the grave 
of power. 1 ' In many places the service is too proper. God 
is not the author of confusion, neither " is He the God of 
the dead. 11 I presume when the fulness of First Corinthians, 
fifteenth chapter, comes (that is the great resurrection chapter 
of the Bible), there will be some holy disorder. A little now 
in some places would be effective. 

Aim for good meetings rather than great meetings : for con- 
verts rather than crowds; for daring leaders rather than 
dazzling ones ; for results rather than reports; for Mr. Sound- 
in-the-faith as your chief card, rather than Mr. Sound-ing- 
brass. 

It is a mistake to read too much Scripture in a meeting. As 
a rule, a little well given, and made very plain by exposition 
and illustration, and then aptly applied, will bring the best 
results. It is the way the Scriptures are read that gives them 
power or not. Any parrot prophet will be of little account 
with the Divine message. The Word must take hold of the 
reader and his life, as well as that the life of God must go in 
it, to make it tell. 

Do not open your meetings all the same way. Have variety 
to begin with, and close in like manner. It is the beginning 
and ending of services that are remembered longest. Too 
many meetings really open just as they are about to close, 
and some would be very powerful if closed just after opening. 

Make a place in your plan of conducting the service where 
the people can be silent and can meditate, and with their 
hearts and minds worship God. As a rule, all meetings often 
worship with lip and ear, but to use these and neglect the 
other is not permanently beneficial. Not that the mind and 
heart do not join with the lips and ears in worship, but there 
are times when they alone should do the work. 

Conviction of sin, so much needed and desired, is often 
produced by the Spirit, through a sharp word of reproof 
given an individual in private. 

Do not always sing in the major key. Strike the minor ; it 
has a weird way of getting at depths in human nature where 
other means fail. 

Remember this : Nothing but poor prayers, poor sermons, 
poor meetings, and poor preachers and leaders can be regu- 
lated by time. When a congregation get their eyes off the 
speaker and on the clock, he had better stop immediately ; 
better still if he had stopped before. 



60 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, 

For young men who are entering the ministry, both of 
Paul's letters to Timothy and the one to Titus should be 
learned by heart. There are only thirteen chapters, and a 
week's hard work will result in knowing every verse, and 
that week will be followed by a lifetime of good unmeasured. 
The third chapter of Second Timothy is the " Bishops' and 
Deacons' " chapter, and these need to often go over the truth 
found there — their wives, too. 

A very common mistake is to apply a rule to every circum- 
stance in religious service ; this works great harm. For in- 
stance : Young people's meetings should be for young people ; 
that is, folks under forty. But to apply this rule everywhere 
and at all times would be death to many a good meeting. I 
have known many young men of seventy ; they had young 
hearts and manners fitting a young folks' service. 

See that a speaker's face shows well. Arrange the light 
for this. There is as much in what he looks as in what he says. 

Try this : Call to a private service the folk of the parish 
who could and ought to take part in meetings, with prayer 
and testimony, but who do not, or if they do, are worse 
than useless. Then show them how to speak and pray in 
public, and make them practise then and there. Point out 
their mistakes. Spurgeon used often to call out his students, 
and, giving them a text, make them preach on it at once. It 
made them fine extemporaneous speakers. If colleges have 
debating societies to make " ready and effective " men. why 
should not the Church be alive to the same advantages for 
its good ? 

There is no more helpful or popular service, or part of a 
service, than to pass slips to those in the congregation and 
ask them to write "questions" on moral, ethical, scriptural, 
spiritual, or practical themes, and handing them out of the 
collection basket, by which they have been gathered at the 
same time as the offerings, to some one with a good voice, 
who reads them, and the pastor or leader answers them at 
once. It is a blessedly helpful thing for both leader and 
listener. The leader need not be afraid. If he can't answer, 
say so, or say, " I'll answer that next week," and then do so. 



Inspirational Lectures. — No. 9. 

THEME : 

PREPARATION. 

Its necessity, shown by historic facts : 

From Genesis iii. to John iii., four thousand years. 

Scientific history of the world, billions of years. 

Moses and his forty years in Midian. 

Jeremiah and David. 

John the Baptist, before Christ. 

Christ's thirty years of getting ready. 

Paul and his three silent years. Gal. i. 15-18. 

John G. Paton and his missionary work. 

Wendell Phillips, Lincoln, and Grant. 

1. Preparation for life-work : 

(1) Teach this truth to the young. 

(2) Ante-natal forces. 

(3) Elijah and the school of the Prophets. 

(4) Successful men of to-day had it hard, not easy, early 

in life. 

2. Preparation for sermon, address, or lesson : 

(1) Prepare yourself. 

(2) Get full of your theme. 

(3) Get free, so that the Spirit can have His way. 

(4) The relation of prayer to success. 

(5) Get the feelings of Christ. 









and Bible Study. 61 

11 Some years back a Roman Catholic priest was moving all 
Paris by his powerful, pathetic preaching in the great Cathedral 
of Notre Dame. The people came in thousands, waited for 
hours, and groaned and sobbed aloud while he talked about 
the sufferings of Jesus Christ, the terribleness of sin, and 
judgment, and hell. This priest, prior to entering the pulpit, 
was accustomed to descend into the vaults under the cathedral, 
and was there, by his own choice and instructions, suspended 
by some of his colleagues to a real cross and beaten with rods 
for the space of half an hour, in order that he might be the 
better prepared to speak to the people by some actual realiza- 
tion of what his Master had suffered on their behalf." 

3. Preparation for revival: 

(1) Prayer. 

(2) Knowledge of the sinfulness of the people. 

(3) Read about revivals. 

(4) Go where souls are being saved. 

(5) Get in personal touch with a revivalist. 
,c\ r~*. ~i ~,„;*v, r~A \ False communion, 

(6) Get alone with God. -> .^ self . centere ^ bless ings. 

4. Preparation for service or worship : 

If the preacher prepares, why should not the hearer ? 

Good seed on bad soil produces no harvest. 

Four classes of hearers: wayside, stony, thorny — Good. 

5. Preparation for observance of the Lord^s day : 

This lack brings sin. 

6. Preparation for prayer-7neeting : 

The place of benefit and help. 

7. Preparation for death : 
May come soon and unexpected. 

Inspirational Lectures. — No. 10. 

THEME : 

SELF-RELIANCE. 

Or the relation of Faith and Trust to Power and 
Success. 

They win, who believe they can. 
Study Mark xi. 22-24. 

John xiv. 12. 

Heb. xi. 6. 
Peter on the sea, Matt. xiv. 22-31. 

People who lack faith can do nothing in Christian warfare. 
Faith in God is the first requisite ; but there are other things 
in which one must trust. I give you the full list : 

1. You must have faith in the triune God. 

2. You must have faith in the Scriptures. 

3. You must have faith in yourself. 

4. You must have faith in your plans. 

5. You must have faith in the people. 

6. You must have faith in your work. 

■ 7. You must have faith in your helpers. 

Twist that seven-fold cord about the world and the worker, 
and both will ascend in the moral and spiritual sky, heaven- 
ward. 

EXAMPLES OF SELF-RELIANT MEN. 

Compiled by Secretary Gordon, of Boston. 

Phillips BROOKS was strongly urged by the president of 
Harvard College not to study for the ministry. 

John BUNYAN was persistently counselled by his friends 
not to publish his writings, and if he had been influenced by 



62 Hints at Prayer, Revivals, 

their advice the world would never have heard of the " Pil- 
grim's Progress" or of the " Holy War. 1 ' 

il WILL" CARLETON was discovered by his father reciting 
his "original' 1 poems, out in the field, in the presence of 
waving grass and nodding stalks of corn. Carleton, Sr., 
expressed his opinion very strongly to Carleton, Jr., to the 
effect that a first-rate farmer was, for all practical purposes, 
better than a third-rate poet, and urged him to cease writing 
poetry and persist in good sensible ploughing. The father of 
" Will " Carleton lived long enough to enjoy the shelter of a 
house built by money secured in payment for his son's '* third- 
rate " poetry, and was compelled to acknowledge, good- 
naturedly, that "the boy was right." 

Jay Gould, in his youthful days, was possessed with an 
ambition to secure a thorough education. He begged his 
father to send him to the academy located near the Gould 
homestead. The father of Jay Gould was not sure that it 
was " worth while" to send the boy to an educational insti- 
tution, and the boy was compelled to pursue his studies in an 
original manner by methods adopted at the suggestion of his 
own fertile imagination. 

Carlyle encountered great difficulty in securing a publish- 
er for his early works. He carried the manuscript of his first 
book from publisher to publisher without meeting with a suc- 
cessful reception for the first-born child of his intellect. The 
book was finally taken up by an American publishing concern, 
a certain keen-eyed Bostonian having discovered rare literary 
merit in the productions of the unknown youth. 

Henr y W. Longfellow sent a few of his poems to a friend 
who was editor of a periodical, and asked him to publish the 
poems if they were worthy of public attention. The editor 
at once sought the office of a young man who was better 
acquainted with Longfellow than himself, read the poems to 
him, and then urged the mutual friend that if he had any re- 
gard for the future of the would-be poet, he would certainly 
use his personal influence with the ambitious youth to forsake 
the realm of literature for the realm of law. And yet Long- 
fellow persisted in writing poetry, and the world still persists 
in reading the same poetry ; and the first poems, which created 
such alarm in the mind of the conservative editor, are counted 
worthy to be classed with the last and best productions of the 
poet's pen. 

When the BELL telephone stock was first issued there 
were those who regarded the whole thing as an exceedingly 
doubtful enterprise. It is said that a certain mechanic who 
had accepted a liberal number of the shares of stock in pay- 
ment for services rendered, the actual cash not being forth- 
coming, finally, in a fit of practical humor, papered the walls 
of his room with the finely engraved certificates of stock, as a 
personal reminder of his own stupidity in accepting stock 
certificates instead of patiently waiting for the hard cash. 
Suddenly the stock began to assume undreamed-of values, 
and then the patient care with which the mechanic moistened 
that wall paper, of such unique design and suggestive pattern, 
removing it by an operation, the evolution of which was more 
gradual than the rising of the sun an hour before the dawn, 
was indeed wonderful to behold. 

Poets have been urged to desist by their nearest neighbors 
and warmest friends ; inventors have been laughed at by the 
very persons who were finally most benefited by their inven- 
tions ; youthful authors have been counselled to stack their 
pens; would-be millionaires have been persistently informed 
that their " genius for business " was not equal to the average. 
But the poet has persisted in the production of poetry ; the in- 
ventor has insisted upon the final success of his invention ; the 
writer has said to himself, '* Woe is me if I write not ; " and 
the poor but energetic youth has finally become the merchant 
prince. 

Believe in yourself. Believe concerning yourself that you 
are able to do, by persistent application, that which any other 
member of the race has achieved by the same sort of persistent 
application. Stability gives birth to every form of ability. 



and Bible Study. 63 

" Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall stand 
before kings ; he shall not stand before mean men.'" 



. 



Inspirational Lectures. — No. 11 

THEME : 

"CONSTANCY." 



Or how to get awake and keep so, in religious life 
and service. 

1st, Get enough life, that you can live. Many have only 
f spells of religion. 1 ' 

Why Christ came— that we may have "abundant life." 

Be sure you have life— not something that looks like it. 

Many people are mere "moral machines." 

2d, Feed that life with the Word of God. Study the three 
classes of church members : 

1. Bible skimmers — " Good." 

2. Bible readers — '* Better." 

3. Bible thinkers—" Best." 

Study here Psalm xix. and cxix., with Isaiah lv. 

3d, Use your life for others. Selfishness in religion, as else- 
where, means death. 
How it can be done : 

1. In the usual services. 

2. In special personal work. 

3. In extraordinary occasions. 

4th, In spite of all outward or inward difficulties, cling to 
daily private prayer. 

1. Have your closet of prayer. 

2. Have petitions ready ; think out well what you need 

from God. 

5th, Keep with the crowd, to see their needs. Christ moved 
among sinners. So must we. 

It is where sin touches humanity, that one can get the mean- 
ing of " Lost " and " Hell." 

6th, Never get away from God, or let him get away from 
you. 

There is no constancy, nor can there be any, apart from 
God in Christian life. This is the full meaning of John xv. 

7th, Make much of : 

The Cross of Christ, 

The Blood of Christ, 

The Bible— the Word of God, and 

The Holy Ghost. 

Let your watchword be : 

" Souls are lost — They must be saved." 



ILLUSTRATIONS FOR LECTURE No. II. 

"You cannot fight without wounds of body, soul, and 
spirit." 

"Swords are for use, not brandishment." 

" People do all but l weep over souls.' " 

"They go on cheating, lying, sinning." The awfulness of 
this ! 

" Create — organize— inspire." 



64 Hints on Prayer, Revivals, and Bible Study. 



WHAT BECAME OF THE APOSTLES. 

''''Matthew, supposed to have suffered martyrdom, or to 
have been slain with the sword in Ethiopia. 

"Mark, dragged through the streets of Alexandria, in 
Egypt, until he died. 

"Luke, hanged on an olive tree in Greece. 

"John, put into boiling oil, but escaped, and died a natural 
death at Ephesus. 

"James the Great, beheaded at Jerusalem. 

"James the Less, beaten to death with clubs, after being 
thrown from the Temple. 

"Philip, hanged up against a pillar at Hierapolis. 
"Bartholomew, flogged. 

"Andrew, bound to a cross, and until he expired preached 
Christ. 
" Thomas, run through with a lance. 
"Jude, shot to death with arrows. 
" Simon Zelotes, crucified in Persia. 
" Matthias, first stoned and then beheaded. 
"Peter, crucified with his head downwards. 
" How little do we suffer compared with these ! " 



MEMORANDUM, 



Special Edition for 
18 Young People's Meetings" 
Ocean Grove, 189 5 



on 'ppapei? 



TtpVWalZ and 

!Bible &*ud2 



ttiitb Eleven «• Inspirational Lieetufes M 



BV 



Charles H. ^atoan 



Philadelphia, Pa. 
(1917 |«. I8ttk St.) 



PRICE, 25 CENTS 




Grove, N. J., 
Summer of 1895. 

Dear Friend: 

Please accept this little book with my 
compliments. 

The conditio — 

read it all through. 

TRY % LIVE, AND WORK OUT THE 
"HINTS. 

3 d. Thar v uBRINC IT WITH YOU EVERY MORN- 
ING to the YOUNC PEOPLE'S MEETING while AT 

oc*an cfcovr. ■"« 



I'rila o i >ir 



nl -tmntiCi 



the Gospel around the world this i ar. 

September 30, I open meetings In Honolulu, 
then go to New Zealand and Australia, thence 
to South Africa and up the west coast, hoping 
to reach home again in time to lead the Young 
People's Meetings for 1896. 

Your friend. 



C. H. VAT 




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-WHOM Y«aV3 UOY HTIW Tl OMIH8 

OM-T31M e'BJ^OlM OHUOY >MI 

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy 
Ghost la come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses 
unto me both In Jerusalem, and In all Judea, and 
In Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth. -Acts t, 8. 



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908- 10I s$r. ^ «M s'e- i 




Other publications by Mr. Yatman, to be 

had by writing to 1917 N. 18th St., 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



*lf*«if>CCGC^Y>(X ^ or tnose wno are an< ^ those who 
'^ ^^^ ^ want to be Christian workers. A 
companion book to this one. Price, 25 cents. 

*[±i* -n^c^ on How to Win Souls - A nel p ful little 

A <*-*"*^^ booklet for those who would be soul 
winners. Price, 5 cents. 

©ood "Bewz A little booklet for ; se 

'™ V¥k ^^r^-w^* amongst converts, and a 
great help to Christian workers in getting the unsaved 
to think and decide. Price, 3 cents. 






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